Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 5.29 | Jul 27 2016

TOP STORY

Leukemic Stem Cells Evade Chemotherapy by Metabolic Adaptation to an Adipose Tissue Niche

Scientists showed that a subpopulation of leukemic stem cells can utilize gonadal adipose tissue as a niche to support their metabolism and evade chemotherapy. [Cell Stem Cell] Full Article | Graphical Abstract | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Evolution of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Stem Cell Properties following Treatment and Progression

The authors prospectively characterized leukemia stem cell populations from a well-defined cohort of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia at diagnosis and relapse to assess the impact of the disease course on these critical populations. [Blood] Abstract

Combination Therapy with Copanlisib and ABL Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors against Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Resistant Cells

The authors investigated the efficacy of combination therapy of copanlisib with an ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) using BCR-ABL-positive cells. Although the effects of the ABL TKI treatment were reduced in the presence of the feeder cell line, HS-5, copanlisib inhibited cell growth. [Oncotarget] Full Article

Serotonin Transporter Antagonists Target Tumor-Initiating Cells in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Breast Cancer

Therapies that abrogate breast tumor-initiating cells (BTIC) activity are needed to achieve durable cures for breast cancer patients. To identify such therapies scientists used a sensitive assay to complete a high-throughput screen of small molecules, including approved drugs, with BTIC-rich mouse mammary tumor cell populations. [Oncotarget] Full Article

SOX9 Is a Novel Cancer Stem Cell Marker Surrogated by Osteopontin in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Researchers examined whether sex determining region Y-box 9 (SOX9) represents a new cancer stem cell marker, and whether osteopontin can be used as a surrogate marker of SOX9 in hepatocellular carcinoma. [Sci Rep] Full Article

ABCG2 Regulates Self-Renewal and Stem Cell Marker Expression but Not Tumorigenicity or Radiation Resistance of Glioma Cells

Investigators showed that ABCG2 can actively drive expression of stem cell markers and self-renewal in glioma cells. Stem cell markers and self-renewal was enriched in cells with high ABCG2 activity, and could be specifically inhibited by pharmacological and genetic ABCG2 inhibition. [Sci Rep] Full Article

MicroRNA-183 Suppresses Cancer Stem-Like Cell Properties in EBV-Associated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

MiR-96 and miR-183 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cancer stem-like cell (CSC) was detected by qRT-PCR. Transient and stable transfection was performed in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive NPC C666-1 cells to examine the effects of ectopic expression of miR-96 and miR-183 on repressing cell growth and CSC properties. [BMC Cancer] Full Article

Bruceantin Inhibits Multiple Myeloma Cancer Stem Cell Proliferation

The authors tested the inhibitory effects of bruceantin on multiple myeloma-cancer stem cells growth derived from a human primary tumor, and to explore a mechanism of action underlying these effects. [Cancer Biol Ther] Abstract

Tumorigenic Lung Tumorospheres Exhibit Stem-Like Features with Significantly Increased Expression of CD133 and ABCG2

Lung cancer stem cells were enriched by sphere-forming culturing and their stem‑like properties were assessed. The results indicated that the lung tumorospheres had enhanced proliferation, clonality, invasion and cisplatin‑resistance, and showed significantly increased expression levels of CD133 and breast cancer resistance protein (ABCG2). [Mol Med Rep] Abstract

Stem Cell Leukemia: How a TALented Actor Can Go Awry on the Hematopoietic Stage

Roughly 25 years ago TAL1 was identified in early hematopoietic cells and involved in leukemia. The authors review the wealth of knowledge gained since then on its physiological roles and mechanisms by which TAL1 ectopic expression contributes to leukemogenesis. They emphasize recent findings that shed light into the intricacies of TAL1 (epi)genetic regulation and the transcription network orchestrated by this major T-cell oncogene. [Leukemia] Abstract

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

AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb Announce Oncology Clinical Collaboration to Evaluate the Combination of Rova-T plus Opdivo and Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen

AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced a clinical trial collaboration to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of AbbVie’s investigational biomarker-specific antibody drug conjugate Rova-T in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo and Opdivo + Yervoy regimen as a treatment for relapsed extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. [AbbVie] Press Release

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Reports Progress in Two Lead Cancer Immunotherapy Programs

In the ICT-107 Phase III registrational trial 109 patients have been screened in the US and Canada, with plans to randomize qualifying patients once they have completed standard of care and are re-screened. In addition, clinical supplies for 12 patients have been manufactured. ImmunoCellular also reported that 56 clinical sites in the US and two sites in Canada have been activated, representing almost half the total number of the planned 120 sites for the trial. [ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd.] Press Release

Trump vs Clinton: Worlds Apart on Science

Presidential candidates begin to make clear their stark differences on climate change, energy production and stem-cell research. [Nature News] Editorial

Europe Overhauls Rules for ‘First-In-Human’ Trials in Wake of French Disaster

The European Union is beefing up protections for volunteers in Phase I clinical trials in the wake of a disastrous clinical study in Rennes, France, that resulted in the death of one volunteer and the hospitalization of five others. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) in London announced in a “concept paper” that it wants to improve strategies to identify and reduce risks in “first-in-human” studies on healthy volunteers. EMA is asking for input from stakeholders. [ScienceInsider] Editorial | Article

Chinese Scientists to Pioneer First Human CRISPR Trial

Chinese scientists are on the verge of being first in the world to inject people with cells modified using the CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing technique. A team led by Lu You, an oncologist at Sichuan University’s West China Hospital in Chengdu, plans to start testing such cells in people with lung cancer next month. [Nature News] Editorial

Scientific Literature: Information Overload

Recent bibliometrics show that the number of published scientific papers has climbed by 8–9% each year over the past several decades. In the biomedical field alone, more than 1 million papers pour into the PubMed database each year — about two papers per minute. [Nature Careers] Editorial

Science Advice for Europe

Exactly one month after Britain’s momentous decision to leave the European Union, around 4500 scientists and friends of science will assemble in Manchester, UK, for the opening of the EuroScience Open Forum, Europe’s largest interdisciplinary research conference. [Science] Editorial

NEW European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Asia 2016 Congress
December 16-19, 2016
Singapore, Singapore

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

NEW Scientific Coordinator – Scientific Project Management (The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich)

NEW Senior Research Assistant – Differentiation and Survival of Leukemia Stem Cells (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)

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

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)

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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