Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 8.07 | Feb 27 2019

TOP STORY

A Stemness Screen Reveals C3orf54/INKA1 as a Promoter of Human Leukemia Stem Cell Latency

Investigators interrogated functionally-validated datasets of leukemia stem cell-specific genes together with their known protein interactors and selected 64 candidates for a competitive in vivo gain-of-function screen to identify genes that enhanced stemness in human cord blood hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. [Blood] Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Ly6G⁺ Inflammatory Cells Enable the Conversion of Cancer Cells to Cancer Stem Cells in an Irradiated Glioblastoma Model

Scientists demonstrated that radiation-induced senescent glioblastoma cells exhibited a senescence-associated secretory phenotype that functioned through NFκB signaling to influence changes in the tumor microenvironment, such as recruitment of Ly6G⁺ inflammatory cells and vessel formation. [Cell Death Differ] Full Article

The JAK/STAT3 and NF-κB Signaling Pathways Regulate Cancer Stem Cell Properties in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Cells

The authors aimed to identify key signaling pathways specific for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC)-CSCs. The siRNA library targeting 719 kinases was used in a sphere formation assay and cell survival assay using ATC cell lines to select target molecules specific for the CSC properties. [Thyroid] Abstract

The Inflammatory Cytokine IL-6 Induces FRA1 Deacetylation Promoting Colorectal Cancer Stem-Like Properties

Researchers showed that the IL-6/STAT3 inflammatory signaling axis induced the deacetylation of FRA1 at the Lys-116 residue located within its DNA-binding domain. The HDAC6 deacetylase underlies this key modification leading to the increase of FRA1 transcriptional activity, the subsequent transactivation of NANOG expression, and the acquisition of stem-like cellular features. [Oncogene] Full Article

Chronic TGF-β Exposure Drives Stabilized EMT, Tumor Stemness, and Cancer Drug Resistance with Vulnerability to Bitopic mTOR Inhibition

The authors found that prolonged transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) exposure, mimicking the state of in vivo carcinomas, promoted stable epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in mammary epithelial and carcinoma cells, in contrast to the reversible EMT induced by a shorter exposure. [Sci Signal] Full Article

miR-873/PD-L1 Axis Regulates the Stemness of Breast Cancer Cells

PD-L1 expression was positively correlated with the expression of stemness markers, and overexpression of PD-L1 contributed to chemoresistance and stemness-like properties in breast cancer cells via activating PI3K/Akt and ERK1/2 pathways. [EBioMedicine] Full Article

BCL-3 Promotes a Cancer Stem Cell Phenotype by Enhancing β-Catenin Signaling in Colorectal Tumor Cells

Scientists showed for the first time that BCL-3 acted as a co-activator of β-catenin/TCF-mediated transcriptional activity in colorectal cancer cells and that this interaction was important for Wnt-regulated intestinal stem cell gene expression. [Dis Model Mech] Abstract | Full Article

A Robust Culture Method for Maintaining Tumorigenic Cancer Stem Cells in the Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Line Li‐7

Investigators found that a commercially available culture medium for maintenance of ES cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, mTeSR1, effectively prevented spontaneous differentiation by CD13⁺CD166^‐ cells to CD13^‐CD166⁺ cells and therefore maintained the CSC population in Li‐7 cell cultures. [Cancer Sci] Abstract

The Tumor Suppressor Effects and Regulation of Cancer Stem Cells by Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Targeted miR-451 in Colon Cancer

The levels of miR-451 were tested in colon cancer cell lines. Multiple functional and immunological assays were performed to analyze miR-451 induced growth changes in vitro and downstream effects on target proteins. [Gene] Abstract

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Concise Review: Regulation of Self‐Renewal in Normal and Malignant Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Krüppel‐Like Factor 4

The authors first summarize the current understanding of the regulation of self‐renewal by Krüppel‐like factor (KLF) proteins in embryonic stem cells through a KLF circuitry and then delve into the potential function of KLF4 in normal hematopoietic stem cells and its emerging role in leukemia‐initiating cells from pediatric patients with T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia via repression of the mitogen‐activated protein kinase 7 pathway. [Stem Cells Transl Med] Full Article

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

CCAB Announces Creation of New Brain Cancer Therapeutic Company, Empirica Therapeutics, as Part of Its Strategy to Advance New Early-Stage Life Sciences Companies

The Centre for the Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics (CCAB) announced a license agreement with Empirica Therapeutics Inc. aimed at developing new treatments for one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer, glioblastoma. [Centre for the Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics] Press Release

Agios Announces FDA Acceptance of Supplemental New Drug Application for TIBSOVO^® (Ivosidenib) for the Treatment of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia with an IDH1 Mutation Not Eligible for Standard Therapy

Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the FDA has accepted the company’s supplemental New Drug Application for TIBSOVO^® for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation who are not eligible for standard therapy. [Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.] Press Release

High-Profile Subscription Journals Critique Plan S

Publishers of highly selective scholarly journals — including Nature and Science — say that they cannot comply with Plan S, a European-led initiative that mandates free access to research results on publication from 2020, unless its rules are changed. [Nature News] Editorial

Data Sharing Will Be a Major Thrust of Trump’s $500 Million Childhood Cancer Plan

President Donald Trump’s proposal in his State of the Union address to spend $500 million over 10 years on pediatric cancer research will begin in 2020 with a focus on sharing patients’ data, federal officials say. That plan is getting a mixed response from researchers and patient advocates, who also worry that the initiative will come at expense of other parts of the National Cancer Institute’s budget. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Gordon Research Conference: Mammary Gland Biology
June 9-14, 2019
Newry, Maine, United States

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

NEW Faculty Position – Prostate Cancer Biology and Cancer Epigenetics (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Scholarship – Glioblastoma Stem Cell Research (Lund University)

Postdoctoral Positions – Stem Cell and Cancer Biology (Columbia University Irving Medical Center)

Tenure Track Faculty Position – Cancer Biology & Therapeutics (Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth)

Postdoctoral Position – Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells (University of Minnesota)

Postdoctoral Position – Stem Cell Aging and Cancer (University of California – San Francisco)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Epigenetics and Cancer (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)

Postdoctoral Position – Stem Cells, Development and Cancer (Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University)

Postdoctoral Associate – Pediatrics, Cancer Biology (University of Massachusetts)

Postdoctoral Position – Colon Cancer (Vanderbilt University)

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