Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 6.33 | Aug 23 2017

TOP STORY

Vitamin C May Encourage Blood Cancer Stem Cells to Die

Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2, or TET2, to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukemia, say the authors. Their new study found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme. [Press release from NYU Langone Health discussing online prepublication in Cell] Press Release | Graphical Abstract | Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Personalized Medicine Based Approach to Model Patterns of Chemoresistance and Tumor Recurrence Using Ovarian Cancer Stem Cell Spheroids

In order to screen the effect of chemotherapeutics and biologics on resistant ovarian cancers with a personalized basis, investigators developed a 3D hanging drop spheroid platform. They initiated spheroids with primary ALDH⁺ CD133⁺ ovarian CSCs from different patient samples, and demonstrated that stem cell progeny from harvested spheroids was similar to the primary tumor. [Clin Cancer Res] Abstract

S100A4 Is a Biomarker and Regulator of Glioma Stem Cells that Is Critical for Mesenchymal Transition in Glioblastoma

Scientists showed that S100A4 is a novel biomarker of glioma stem cells (GSCs). Selective ablation of S100A4-expressing cells was sufficient to block tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. They also identified S100A4 as a critical regulator of GSC self-renewal in mouse and patient-derived glioma tumorspheres. [Cancer Res] Abstract

Metformin Targets Gastric Cancer Stem Cells

The authors evaluated the anti-tumoral effect of metformin on gastric cancer in vitro and in vivo and determined whether this molecule could target the gastric CSCs. Metformin induced a cell cycle arrest, which decreased cell proliferation in the 2D cultures. In a 3D culture system, metformin decreased the number of tumorspheres, revealing its capacity to target the CSCs. [Eur J Cancer] Abstract

Modulation of SOX2 Expression Delineates an End-Point for Paclitaxel-Effectiveness in Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Gene expression profiling of normal breast stem cells and breast CSCs from chemo-treated patients were carried out. Investigators established that SOX2 silencing of CSCs along with paclitaxel treatment reduced SOX2-ABCG2-TWIST1 expression, disrupted sphere forming capacity and also reduced invasiveness by retaining epithelial-like properties of the cells. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Combination Cisplatin and Sulforaphane Treatment Reduces Proliferation, Invasion and Tumor Formation in Epidermal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Researchers monitored the efficacy of sulforaphane and cisplatin as a combined therapy for squamous cell carcinoma. Both agents suppressed cell proliferation, growth of cancer stem cell spheroids, matrigel invasion and migration of SCC-13 and HaCaT cells and combination treatment was more efficient. [Mol Carcinog] Abstract

Cooperative Effect of Chidamide and Chemotherapeutic Drugs Induce Apoptosis by DNA Damage Accumulation and Repair Defects in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Stem and Progenitor Cells

The authors report that a low-dose chidamide, a novel orally active benzamide-type histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, which selectively targets HDACs 1, 2, 3, and 10, could enhance the cytotoxicity of DNA-damaging agents in CD34⁺CD38⁻ KG1α cells, CD34⁺CD38⁻ Kasumi cells, and primary refractory or relapsed acute myeloid leukemia CD34⁺ cells. [Clin Epigenetics] Full Article

All-Trans Retinoic Acid Suppresses Malignant Characteristics of CD133-Positive Thyroid Cancer Stem Cells and Induces Apoptosis

The effects of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on CD133-positive cells in vivo were explored with Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, apoptosis, cell cycle, and ethynyl deoxyuridine assays. ATRA inhibited the stem cell characteristics of CD133-positive cells and induced CD133-positive cell differentiation to CD133-negative cells, and promoted CD133-positive cell apoptosis. [PLoS One] Full Article

Myc Mediates Cancer Stem-Like Cells and EMT Changes in Triple Negative Breast Cancers Cells

Researchers studied the effects of c-Myc overexpression on CSCs and chemotherapy in African American (AA), and European American derived triple negative breast cancer cell line(s). Overexpression of c-Myc in AA derived MDA-MB-468 cells resulted in a significant increase in CSCs and with minimal changes in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) compared to the control group. [PLoS One] Full Article

Developmentally Regulated Signaling Pathways in Glioma Invasion

The authors summarize the role of developmentally regulated signaling pathways that have been found to facilitate glioma growth and invasion. They discuss how the microenvironment and treatment-induced perturbations of these highly interconnected signaling networks can trigger a shift in cellular phenotype and tumor subtype. [Cell Mol Life Sci] Full Article

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

Children’s National Part of Pediatric Cancer Research Collective Awarded Millions by NIH

Children’s National Health System is a member of a public-private research collective that was awarded up to $14.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch a data resource center for cancer researchers around the world in order to accelerate the discovery of novel treatments for childhood tumors. [Children’s National Health System] Press Release

CPRIT Awards $13M for Prevention, Research, Recruitment

Researchers in the NCI-designated Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center have received $13,107,956 from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) for six new grants focused on evidence-based cancer prevention services, the recruitment of an established investigator, individual investigator and early translational research and core facility support. [Baylor College of Medicine] Press Release

Leaked Documents Expose Long-Standing Gender Tensions at Salk Institute

Senior female faculty at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies raise more than twice as much in National Institutes of Health funding for scientists working in their labs as their male counterparts, according to a 2016 internal report on “faculty issues” requested by leaders of the San Diego, California institution. Yet Salk leaders favored male scientists by granting them greater access to internal funds and other resources, the report implies, echoing gender discrimination lawsuits filed last month against the research center. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

A Bold Open-Access Push in Germany Could Change the Future of Academic Publishing

Over the past two years, more than 150 German libraries, universities, and research institutes have formed a united front trying to force academic publishers into a new way of doing business. Instead of buying subscriptions to specific journals, consortium members want to pay publishers an annual lump sum that covers publication costs of all papers whose first authors are at German institutions. Those papers would be freely available around the world; meanwhile, German institutions would receive access to all the publishers’ online content. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)-European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 2017 Meeting
December 2-6, 2017
Philadelphia, United States

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

NEW Biology – Cancer and/or Glioma Stem Cell Research (Weill Cornell College of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Scholar – Cancer Stem Cell Research (University of California, Los Angeles G.O. Discovery Laboratory)

Postdoctoral Researcher – Tumorigenesis and Stem Cell Biology (Yale University School of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer (Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine)

Assistant or Associate Professor – Cancer Immunotherapeutics (City of Hope)

Assistant Professor – Cell Science (University of Manitoba)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Tumor Microenvironment and Cancer Stem Cells (Duke University Medical Center)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Immunology (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cell Signaling and Cancer Biology (Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Epithelial Stem Cell Biology (University of Michigan Healthcare System)

Faculty Positions – Cancer and Stem Cell Biology (Sun Yat-Sen University)

Postdoctoral Fellows – Cancer Stem Cell Biology (Genome Institute of Singapore)

Research Officers – Cancer Stem Cell Biology (Genome Institute of Singapore)

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