Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 5.28 | Jul 20 2016

TOP STORY

On-Chip Clonal Analysis of Glioma Stem Cell Motility and Therapy Resistance

Investigators introduced a novel micro/nanotechnology-based chip platform for performing live-cell interrogation of patient-derived glioma stem cell cultures with single-clone resolution. [Nano Lett] Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

The NSL Chromatin-Modifying Complex Subunit KANSL2 Regulates Cancer Stem-Like Properties in Glioblastoma that Contribute to Tumorigenesis

The authors report a role for KANSL2 in regulation of stemness in glioblastoma, which is characterized by heterogeneous tumor stem-like cells associated with therapy resistance and disease relapse. [Cancer Res] Abstract

Downregulation of MicroRNA-644a Promotes Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Aggressiveness and Stem-Cell-Like Phenotype via Dysregulation of PITX2

Scientists previously reported the oncogenic role of paired-like homeodomain 2 (PITX2) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In this study, they aimed to identify the microRNA regulators of PITX2 and the mechanism underlying the pathogensis of ESCC. [Clin Cancer Res] Abstract

DICER Governs Characteristics of Glioma Stem Cells and the Resulting Tumors in Xenograft Mouse Models of Glioblastoma

Scientists characterized the role of DICER in glioblastoma (GB), specifically demonstrating its effects on the ability of glioma stem-like cells to form tumors in a mouse model of GB. [Oncotarget] Full Article

Plasticity of Lung Cancer Stem-Like Cells Is Regulated by the Transcription Factor HOXA5 that Is Induced by Oxidative Stress

Researchers analyzed the plasticity of lung cancer cells and found that lung non-cancer stem-like cells (CSCs)/cancer-initiating cells (CICs) can dedifferentiate into CSCs/CICs in accordance with the expression of stem cell transcription factor SOX2. [Oncotarget] Full Article

ErbB2 and p38γ MAPK Mediate Alcohol-Induced Increase in Breast Cancer Stem Cells and Metastasis

Scientists evaluated the effect of chronic alcohol exposure on mammary tumor development/metastasis in MMTV-neu transgenic mice and investigated the cell signaling in response to alcohol exposure in breast cancer cells overexpressing ErbB2/HER2. [Mol Cancer] Full Article

Resveratrol Targeting of AKT and p53 in Glioblastoma and Glioblastoma Stem-Like Cells to Suppress Growth and Infiltration

Resveratrol’s effects on cell proliferation, sphere-forming ability, and invasion were tested using multiple patient-derived glioblastoma multiforme stem-like cell lines and established U87 glioma cells, and changes in oncogenic AKT and tumor suppressive p53 were analyzed. [J Neurosurg] Abstract

Establishment and Analysis of Cancer Stem-Like and Non-Cancer Stem-Like Clone Cells from the Human Colon Cancer Cell Line SW480

Experiments using a large amount of cancer stem-like cells/cancer-initiating cells are technically very difficult. Researchers isolated single cell clones from side population cells and main population cells derived from the human colon cancer cell line SW480. [PLoS One] Full Article

Co-Expression of Cancer Stem Cell Markers Corresponds to a Pro-Tumorigenic Expression Profile in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Scientists analyzed the expression of putative cancer stem cell (CSC) markers-CD24, CD44, epithelial cell adhesion molecule, CD133, and nestin-by immunofluorescence, flow cytometry and quantitative PCR in 3 pancreatic adenocarcinoma-derived cell lines and by immunohistochemistry in three corresponding tumor samples. [PLoS One] Full Article

CD114: A New Member of the Neural Crest-Derived Cancer Stem Cell Marker Family

The authors review the processes of neural crest development and tumorigenesis and they discuss the previously identified markers for cancer stem cell subpopulations identified in neural crest tumors and their role in neural crest tumor biology. [J Cell Biochem] Abstract

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the cancer stem cell research field.

Vigilant Biosciences Announces Oral Presentation on CD44 and Associated Markers in Oral Rinses and Tissues from Oral Cancer Patients

Vigilant Biosciences, Inc. announced a presentation of data related to proof-of-concept studies by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, titled CD44 and Associated Markers in Oral Rinses and Tissues from Oral Cancer Patients. [Press release from Vigilant Biosciences, Inc. discussing research presented at American Head and Neck Society 9^th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer, Seattle] Press Release

Guardant Health Collaborates with OncoMed Pharmaceuticals on Anti-RSPO3 Clinical Trial

Guardant Health announced a strategic collaboration with OncoMed Pharmaceuticals. Using Guardant Health’s digital sequencing technology, the companies have developed a custom blood test that looks for specific biomarkers relevant to OncoMed’s ongoing Phase Ia/Ib trial of its anti-RSP03 antibody. [ScienceInsider] Press Release

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Announces Completion of Dosing in Phase II LOWR HDV-3 Study at National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the completion of dosing of LOWR HDV-3 (LOnafarnib With Ritonavir in Hepatitis Delta Virus – 3) at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. [Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc.] Press Release

Cerulean Receives FDA Fast Track Designation for CRLX101 for the Treatment of Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Cerulean Pharma Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for Cerulean’s lead nanoparticle-drug conjugate, CRLX101, in combination with paclitaxel, for the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian carcinoma, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer. [Cerulean Pharma Inc.] Press Release

Dutch Agency LauCantargia Obtains a Granted Patent from USPTO Concerning IL1RAP in Solid Tumorsches First Grants Program Dedicated to Replication

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Cantargia AB’s patent application concerning IL1RAP as a target molecule for antibody therapy of several solid tumor types. The granted patent follows the Notice of Allowance that was issued and communicated in June 2016. [Cerulean Pharma Inc.] Press Release

NIH Expands Investment in HIV Cure Research

The National Institutes of Health has awarded approximately $30 million in annual funding over the next five years to six research collaborations working to advance basic medical science toward an HIV cure. [National Institutes of Health] Editorial

Drugs Watchdog Thwarting UK Progress in Stem Cell Therapy, Report Says

Britain’s hopes of leading the world in revolutionary therapies that regenerate damaged body parts are under threat because the NHS drugs watchdog cannot properly evaluate them, a report says. [The Guardian] Editorial | Report

Science’s Status Shifts in New Brexit Government

Three weeks after UK voters chose to leave the European Union, the country has a new prime minister, Theresa May — and a revamped administration that is poised to change science’s place in government. [Nature News] Editorial

Science Under Siege: How Venezuela’s Economic Crisis Is Affecting Researchers

The political and economic crisis in Venezuela continues to worsen. As the price of oil — the country’s major export — has fallen, Venezuela has struggled to pay for imported goods while maintaining socialist economic policies put in place by former president Hugo Chávez. [Nature News] Editorial

Research Charities Help Marry Two Major South African HIV/Tuberculosis Institutes

As the International AIDS Conference kicked off in Durban, South Africa, two of the nation’s most prominent biomedical research institutions announced that they will marry and combine resources to attack the raging coepidemic of tuberculosis and HIV in the region. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

A Week of Political Bloodletting, but U.K. Science Minister Keeps His Job

For researchers worried about the future of science in the United Kingdom, the news was something to hold onto. Late on Friday, Jo Johnson announced he will remain as science minister, despite a massive shakeup of the government cabinet. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Turkey Purges Universities after Failed Coup

More than a thousand Turkish university staff have been ordered to resign their faculty leadership positions — and others expect to be sacked — in the aftermath of the country’s failed coup. As president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to clamp down on political opposition, the Turkish Council of Higher Education has called for all 1,577 of the country’s university deans — the staff that head up each institution’s various academic faculties — to leave their posts. [Nature News] Editorial

Dutch Agency Launches First Grants Program Dedicated to Replication

The Netherlands has launched what researchers say is the world’s first national fund dedicated to replication studies: a pot of €3 million (US$3.3 million) over the next 3 years for Dutch scientists to test whether they can reproduce important research results in social and medical sciences. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW 28^th European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Symposium
November 29-December 2, 2016
Munich, Germany

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the cancer stem cell community.

NEW Tenure Track Faculty – Biological Sciences Scholars Program (University of Michigan)

NEW Postdoctoral Fellow – Cancer Stem Cell Biology (Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute)

Postdoctoral Research Assistant – Epigenetics and Immune-Oncology (University of Oxford)

PhD Studentship – Self-Renewal, Differentiation and Metastasis of Tumor Initiating Cells (German Cancer Research Center)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Synthetic Cancer Biology (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Tumor Biology in Multiple Myeloma (Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic)

Institute Associate Scientist III – Target Biology (MD Anderson Cancer Center)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Wnt Pathway in Sarcoma Pathogenesis (University of Miami Health System)

Postdoctoral Scientist – Leukemic Stem Cells (University of Oxford)

Senior Cancer Analyst – 100,000 Genomes Project (Queen Mary University of London)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cancer Stem Cell Biology (Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute)

Assistant Professor – Molecular Pharmacology, Systems Biology, Cancer Therapeutics (German Cancer Research Center)

Team Leader – Immune-Oncology (Fondation Toulouse Cancer Sante)

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