Abstract Amplification and mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR), resulting in the common and oncogenic EGFRvIII (ΔEGFR) variant, is a signature pathogenetic event in GBM. Strikingly, despite its greater biological activity than wildtype EGFR (wtEGFR), only a minority of cancer cells in the primary tumor possess the hallmark ΔEGFR lesion, while the remainder of cancer cells express wtEGFR. We hypothesized that the ΔEGFR-expressing subpopulation provides enhanced tumorigenicity to the entire tumor cell population through a paracrine mechanism. Using a combination of mixed tumor engraftments and biochemical analysis of paracrine factors and signaling pathways activation, we determined that human glioma tissues, glioma cell lines, glioma stem cells and primary mouse astrocytes, that express ΔEGFR each secrete IL-6 and/or LIF cytokines. This then prompts a novel interaction between the receptor that is common to these cytokines, gp130, and wtEGFR in neighboring cells that express amplified levels of EGFR, resulting in co-receptor activation and tumor growth enhancement. Ablating IL-6, LIF or gp130 uncouples this cellular cross-talk and potently attenuates tumor growth enhancement. These findings demonstrate that the heterogeneity which characterizes GBM, and perhaps other tumors with this feature, does not occur stochastically, but instead can be an actively maintained feature and illuminates a heterotypic cancer cell interaction of potential therapeutic significance. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} abstract. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3126.