Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 4.10 | Mar 18 2015

RSpo2 Enhances Canonical Wnt Signaling to Confer Stemness-Associated Traits to Susceptible Pancreatic Cancer Cells
Investigators described small subpopulations of pancreatic cancer cells with high intrinsic Wnt activity that possessed properties indicative of cancer stem cells, including drug-resistance and tumor initiating capacity, while cell populations with negligible Wnt activity preferentially expressed markers of differentiation. [Cancer Res] Abstract

Mouse Low-Grade Gliomas Contain Cancer Stem Cells with Unique Molecular and Functional Properties
Researchers report the isolation of CD133⁺ multi-potent low-grade glioma stem cells (LG-GSCs), which generated glioma-like lesions histologically similar to the parent tumor following injection into immunocompetent hosts. They demonstrated that these LG-GSCs harbor selective resistance to currently employed conventional and biologically targeted anti-cancer agents, which reflect the acquisition of new targetable signaling pathway abnormalities. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract | Press Release

The Multikinase Inhibitor Sorafenib Enhances Glycolysis and Synergizes with Glycolysis Blockade for Cancer Cell Killing
To characterize cancer cell metabolic response to Sorafenib, researchers measured oxygen consumption, generation of reactive oxygen species and ATP content in rat liver cancer stem cells-2 cells exposed to the drug. [Sci Rep] Full Article

PIK3R1 Negatively Regulates the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Stem-Like Phenotype of Renal Cancer Cells through the AKT/GSK3β/CTNNB1 Signaling Pathway
786-O and A-704 cells with PIK3R1 depletion introduced by CRISPR/Cas9 system displayed enhanced proliferation, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and acquired a stem-like phenotype. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Smad4 Decreases the Population of Pancreatic Cancer-Initiating Cells through Transcriptional Repression of ALDH1A1
Scientists investigated how maintenance of pancreatic cancer-initiating cells is influenced by Smad4, which is frequently deleted or mutated in pancreatic cancer cells. Smad4 silencing up-regulated the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1A1) mRNA, whereas forced expression of Smad4 in pancreatic cancer cells down-regulated it. [Am J Pathol] Full Article

Elimination of Cancer Stem-Like Cells and Potentiation of Temozolomide Sensitivity by Honokiol in Glioblastoma Multiforme Cells
Researchers investigated the characteristics of cancer stem-like side population cells sorted from glioblastoma multiforme cells, and studied the effect of Honokiol targeting on cancer stem cells. [PLoS One] Abstract

The ALDH1⁺ Subpopulation of the Human NMFH‑1 Cell Line Exhibits Cancer Stem-Like Characteristics
The authors identified a population with elevated aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) in the human malignant fibrous histiocytoma cell line. ALDH⁺ and ALDH^– cell populations were isolated and compared for cancer stem cell characteristics. [Oncol Rep] Abstract

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Novel Competition Combines Crowdsourcing and Data Sharing to Drive Innovation in Prostate Cancer Research
Industry leaders in biomedical research, oncology data sharing and computational science announced the launch of an innovative research challenge for prostate cancer using previously unavailable clinical data. The Prostate Cancer DREAM Challenge is the first research challenge in prostate cancer to marry crowdsourcing with data sharing, paving a new way to tackle key research questions about metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. [Project Data Sphere, LLC (Business Wire)] Press Release

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