Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 5.30 | Aug 3 2016

TOP STORY

Role of SUMO Activating Enzyme in Cancer Stem Cell Maintenance and Self-Renewal

Using colorectal cancer (CC) cell lines, patient-derived xenograft tissues and patient tissues, scientists report that CC cancer stem cells (CSCs), which resist chemoradiation, have higher SUMO activating enzyme and global SUMOylation levels than non-CSCs. [Nat Commun] Full Article

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

An Ectopic Network of Transcription Factors Regulated by Hippo Signaling Drives Growth and Invasion of a Malignant Tumor Model

Authors discovered that the bulk of the tumor-specific gene expression is controlled by an ectopic network of a few transcription factors that are overexpressed and/or hyperactivated in tumor cells. [Curr Biol] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

The ID1-CULLIN3 Axis Regulates Intracellular SHH and WNT Signaling in Glioblastoma Stem Cells

Inhibitor of differentiation 1 (ID1) is highly expressed in glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs). However, the regulatory mechanism responsible for its role in GSCs is poorly understood. Investigators report that ID1 activates GSC proliferation, self-renewal, and tumorigenicity by suppressing CULLIN3 ubiquitin ligase. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Notch1-MAPK Signaling Axis Regulates CD133⁺ Cancer Stem Cell-Mediated Melanoma Growth and Angiogenesis

Researchers report that melanoma-specific CD133⁺ cancer stem cells exhibit increased tumor-initiating potential, tumor-endothelial cell interaction and lung metastasis. [J Invest Dermatol] Abstract

Melanoma Dormancy in a Mouse Model Is Linked to GILZ/FOXO3A-Dependent Quiescence of Disseminated Stem-Like Cells

Using an immunotherapy-based syngeneic model of melanoma dormancy and GFP-labelled dormant cell-derived cell lines, researchers determined that vaccination against melanoma prevented tumor growth but did not prevent tumor cell dissemination or eliminate all tumor cells. The persistent disseminated melanoma tumor cells were quiescent and asymptomatic for one year. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Krüppel-Like Factor 8 Promotes Cancer Stem Cell-Like Traits in Hepatocellular Carcinoma through Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling

The role of krüppel-like factor 8 (KLF8) in liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) is not known. The authors investigated the role of KLF8 in LCSCs to determine if KLF8 is a novel marker of these cells. [Mol Carcinog] Abstract

ASPP2 Suppresses Stem Cell-Like Characteristics and Chemoresistance by Inhibiting the Src/FAK/Snail Axis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Researchers report that downregulation of ASPP2, a member of the ankyrin-repeat-containing, SH3-domain-containing, and proline-rich-region-containing protein (ASPP) family, bestowed hepatocellular carcinoma cells with stem-like properties and resistance to chemotherapy, including the expansion of side population fractions, formation of hepatospheroids, expression of stem cell-associated genes, loss of chemosensitivity, and increased tumorigenicity in immunodeficient mice. [Tumour Biol] Abstract

Tumorigenicity Evaluation of Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The authors investigated the tumorigenic potential of umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells relative to MRC-5 and HeLa cells (negative and positive controls, respectively) both in vitro and in vivo. [Toxicol Res] Full Article

Apigenin Inhibits Cancer Stem Cell-Like Phenotypes in Human Glioblastoma Cells via Suppression of c-Met Signaling

Scientists investigated the therapeutic effects of dietary flavonoids, including apigenin, quercetin, and naringenin, against cancer stem cell-like phenotypes of human glioblastoma cell lines U87MG and U373MG. [Phytother Res] Abstract

miRNA-Regulated Cancer Stem Cells: Understanding the Property and the Role of miRNA in Carcinogenesis

In the present review, the authors explained different characteristics of cancer stem cells as well as miRNA regulation of self-renewal and differentiation in cancer stem cells. [Tumour Biol] Abstract

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

HedgePath Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive Interim Data in Its Phase II(b) Cancer Trial

HedgePath Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced positive interim data from its ongoing, open-label Phase II(b) clinical trial studying the effect of SUBA™-Itraconazole oral capsules in patients with Basal Cell Carcinoma Nevus Syndrome, also known as Gorlin Syndrome. [HedgePath Pharmaceuticals, Inc.] Press Release

FibroStatin Announces Breakthrough in the Fight against Drug-Resistant Cancer and Fibrosis

FibroStatin announced the development of a breakthrough treatment to inhibit the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a fundamental underlying pathology active in drug-resistant invasive cancer and organ fibrosis. EMT is regarded as a very important but difficult process to target therapeutically. [FibroStatin (PR Newswire Association LLC.)] Press Release

Amgen and Advaxis Enter Global Cancer Immunotherapies Collaboration

Amgen and Advaxis, Inc. announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of Advaxis’ ADXS-NEO, a novel, preclinical investigational cancer immunotherapy treatment that is designed to activate a patient’s immune system to respond against the unique mutations, or neoepitopes, contained in and identified from each individual patient’s tumor. [Amgen] Press Release

DNA Vaccines against Zika Virus Speed into Clinical Trials

By the end of 2016 at least two vaccines against Zika will have completed Phase I safety trials, marking the first significant clinical progress towards preventing transmission of the virus. [Nat Rev Drug Discov] Editorial

Scientists Seek Influence on ‘Brexit Ministry’

Worried at the prospect of losing access to EU funding and collaborations, scientific societies have fired off numerous letters asking the government to keep their country in the EU’s research system, and warning of damage already caused by Brexit. [Nature News] Editorial

Brain Implants and Gene-Editing Enhancements Worry US Public

Most people in the United States are more worried than enthusiastic about the prospect of scientific advances such as gene editing and brain-chip implants, a survey of thousands suggests. [Nature News] Editorial | Poll

Major Review Calls Time on ‘Gaming’ in UK Research Assessment

The United Kingdom’s mammoth periodic audit of its research is set for a shake-up that could change the way universities hire academics – and might also encourage scientists to spend more time on public engagement. [Nature News] Editorial

Antibiotics Funding Splurge Gets Mixed Reception

Antibiotics researchers are set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from a new funding stream — but not everyone thinks the cash is being directed to the right place. [Nature News] Editorial

Young Blood Antiaging Trial Raises Questions

A startup company has launched the first clinical trial in the United States to test the antiaging benefits of young blood in relatively healthy people. But there’s a big caveat: It’s a pay-to-participate trial, a type that has raised ethical concerns before, most recently in the stem cell field. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Dispute over President’s Age Tears Pasteur Institute Apart

Is 65 too old to stay at the helm of a major research center? That question is sowing division at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Science has learned, and has plunged the 128-year-old institute, home to 1200 scientists and the place where HIV was first isolated, into a leadership crisis. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

U.S. Mental Health Institute Puts Champion of Basic Science at the Helm

Up to now, Joshua Gordon has split his career between working with patients with mental illness and mice designed to mimic that illness. But this fall, the neuroscientist and psychiatrist will take control of the $1.5 billion U.S. National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. [ScienceInsider] Editorial | Press Release

Russian Scientists Bracing for Massive Job Losses

Russia’s scientific community is reeling from news that the government plans to fire about 10,000 researchers over the next three years. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Keystone Symposium: TGFβ in Immunity, Inflammation and Cancer
January 9-13, 2017
Taos, United States

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

NEW Principal Investigator – Clinical Geneticist in Pediatric Leukemia (Children´s Cancer Research Institute, St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung)

NEW Bioinformatician – Bioinformatics Data Analysis (Children´s Cancer Research Institute, St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung)

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

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)

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