Cancer Stem Cell News Volume 7.42 | Oct 24 2018

TOP STORY

A Feedforward Mechanism Mediated by Mechanosensitive Ion Channel PIEZO1 and Tissue Mechanics Promotes Glioma Aggression

Deleting PIEZO1 suppressed the growth of glioblastoma stem cells, inhibited tumor development, and prolonged mouse survival. Focal mechanical force activated prominent PIEZO1-dependent currents from glioma cell processes, but not soma. [Neuron] Abstract | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Regulation of Human Glioma Cell Migration, Tumor Growth, and Stemness Gene Expression Using a Lck Targeted Inhibitor

The authors developed a dorsal root ganglion axon-oligodendrocyte-human glioma cell (hGC) co-culture to study in real time the migration and interaction of hGCs with their microenvironment. Treatment of human glioma stem cells with Lck inhibitor, resulted in significant inhibition of self-renewal and tumor-sphere formation. [Oncogene] Full Article

The SCRIB Paralog LANO/LRRC1 Regulates Breast Cancer Stem Cell Fate through WNT/β-Catenin Signaling

Scientists demonstrated that Lano/LRRC1-depleted cells secreted increased levels of WNT ligands, which acted in a paracrine manner to positively deregulate the WNT/β-catenin pathway in breast CSCs. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article

A Unique Non-Saccharide Mimetic of Heparin Hexasaccharide Inhibits Colon Cancer Stem Cells via p38 MAP Kinase Activation

G2.2 reduced CSCs induced HT-29 and HCT 116 colon xenografts’ growth in a dose-dependent fashion. G2.2 also significantly delayed the growth of colon xenograft further enriched in CSCs following oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil treatment compared to vehicle-treated xenograft controls. [Mol Cancer Ther] Abstract

Autophagy Suppresses Self-Renewal Ability and Tumorigenicity of Glioma-Initiating Cells and Promotes Notch1 Degradation

Autophagy induced by AZD8055 and rapamycin treatment suppressed glioma-initiating cell (GIC) self-renewal in vitro. Moreover, autophagy activated Notch1 degradation, which is associated with maintenance of the self-renewal ability of GICs. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

miR-30-5p Suppresses Cell Chemoresistance and Stemness in Colorectal Cancer through USP22/Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Axis

Researchers determined that miR-30-5p attenuated the expression of Wnt/β-catenin signaling target genes, Wnt luciferase activity, and β-catenin protein levels in colorectal CSCs. [J Cell Mol Med] Full Article

HIF-2α Promotes Conversion to a Stem Cell Phenotype and Induces Chemoresistance in Breast Cancer Cells by Activating Wnt and Notch Pathways

Acute hypoxia briefly increased hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression, while chronic hypoxia continuously enhanced HIF-2α expression and induced the resistance of breast cancer cells to paclitaxel (PTX). HIF-2α overexpression induced a stem cell phenotype, the resistance to PTX and enhanced protein expression of stem cell markers, c-Myc, OCT4 and Nanog. [J Exp Clin Cancer Res] Full Article

Resveratrol Enhances the Chemotherapeutic Response and Reverses the Stemness Induced by Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer Cells via Targeting SREBP1

Resveratrol enhanced the sensitivity of gemcitabine and inhibited lipid synthesis via sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1). Knockdown of SREBP1 limited the sphere formation ability and suppressed the expression of CSC markers. Suppression of SREBP1 induced by resveratrol reversed the gemcitabine-induced stemness. [Cell Prolif] Full Article

H19 Regulation of Oestrogen Induction of Symmetric Division Is Achieved by Antagonizing Let-7c in Breast Cancer Stem-Like Cells

Scientists identified the stimulation of H19 on symmetric division of breast cancer stem-like cells, which subsequently resulted in self-renewing increasing. H19 inhibited the Let-7c availability by acting as its specific molecular sponge, and with Let-7c inhibition, estrogen receptor activated Wnt signaling was unconstrained. [Cell Prolif] Full Article

Dual Inhibition of EZH1/2 Over-Activates WNT Signaling to Deplete Cancer Stem Cells in Multiple Myeloma

Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) directly regulated WNT signaling in multiple myeloma (MM), and over-activation of this signaling induced by dual inhibition of enhancer of zeste homolog (EZH) 1/2 eradicated myeloma stem cells and negatively affected tumorigenesis, suggesting that repression of WNT signaling by PRC2 played an important role in stemness maintenance of MM cells. [Cancer Sci] Full Article

MicroRNA-122 Negatively Associates with Peroxiredoxin-II Expression in Human Gefitinib-Resistant Lung Cancer Stem Cells

Researchers used gefitinib-resistant A549 (A549/GR) cells to investigate the role of Prx II in GR non-small cell lung cancer stemness. miR-122 inhibited A549/GR stemness by downregulating the Hedgehog, Notch, and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. [Cancer Gene Ther] Full Article

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Convergence of VEGF and YAP/TAZ Signaling: Implications for Angiogenesis and Cancer Biology

The authors discuss how findings explain the pathophysiological roles of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and YAP/TAZ, identify their connections to other receptor-mediated pathways, and reveal ways of therapeutically targeting their convergent signals in patients. [Sci Signal] Full Article

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

Targeting Hard-to-Treat Cancers

Cambridge leads a £10 million interdisciplinary collaboration to target the most challenging of cancers. The aim of the project, which is funded for six years by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is to develop an array of new delivery technologies that can deliver almost any drug to any tumor in a large enough concentration to kill the cancerous cells. [University of Cambridge] Press Release

Synergy Grants: €250 Million for World Class Science

Twenty seven research groups across Europe have won highly-coveted ERC Synergy Grants. Worth in total €250 million, this funding enables groups of two to four lead researchers to bring together complementary skills, knowledge and resources to jointly address research problems at the frontiers of knowledge. [European Research Council] Press Release

U of T Researcher James Till Receives International Honor

James Till, professor emeritus in the department of medical biophysics, is the inaugural recipient of the Edogawa-Niche Prize. Till will be officially honored in Tokyo, Japan at the 2018 Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine NICHE International Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine meeting. [University of Toronto] Press Release

China Hides Identities of Top Scientific Recruits Amidst Growing US Scrutiny

China’s flagship science talent recruitment program, the Thousand Talents Plan, has gone underground amidst intensifying scrutiny by United States government agencies for China’s suspected role in the theft of US technologies and intellectual property. [Nature News] Editorial

Hard Brexit Could Cripple UK Science, Say Nobel Prizewinners

A coalition of Nobel laureates has said a hard Brexit could cripple UK science, in a letter to Theresa May and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker. The letter, signed by 29 Nobel prizewinners and six Fields medalists, says the UK “must now strive to ensure that as little harm as possible is done to research”. [The Guardian] Editorial

Leading Cancer-Research Charity Takes Tough Stance on Bullying

One of the world’s biggest funders of cancer research has launched an anti-bullying policy that could lead to the withdrawal of funding from scientists whose institutions uphold allegations made against them. The policy, announced by Cancer Research UK, makes the charity the second major UK research funder to introduce anti-bullying and anti-harassment rules. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW 15^th Annual Stem Cell Symposium: Stem Cells B2B – Bench to Bedside
February 1, 2019
Los Angeles, California, United States

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

NEW Faculty Positions – Cancer & Stem Cell Biology (Duke-NUS Medical School)

NEW Assistant Professor – Cancer Biology (University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine)

PhD Studentships – Cancer (The Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute)

Computational Biologist/Bioinformatician – Hematopoiesis (Karolinska Institutet)

Research Assistant – Stem Cell Biology in Blood System Aging and Blood Cancer (The Jackson Laboratory)

Postdoctoral Associate – Hematopoiesis and Leukemia (The Jackson Laboratory)

Postdoctoral Fellowship Positions – Translational Leukemia (Lund University)

Postdoctoral and Research Associate Positions – Chromatin Remodeling Proteins in Normal Stem Cell & Cancer Biology (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)

Faculty Positions – Cancer Biology (The Wilmot Cancer Institute)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Leukemic Stem Cell Chemical Systems Medicine (University of Copenhagen)

Research Scientist – Leukemia (MD Anderson Cancer Center)

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