Search results for "Cancer Stem Cells"
showing 10 items of 96 documents
3D printing novel in vitro cancer cell culture model systems for lung cancer stem cell study
2021
Two-dimensional (2D) in vitro cell cultures and laboratory animals have been used traditionally as the gold-standard preclinical cancer model systems. However, for cancer stem cell (CSC) studies, they exhibit notable limitations on simulating native environment, which depreciate their translatability for clinical development purposes. In this study, different three-dimensional (3D) printing platforms were used to establish novel 3D cell cultures enriched in CSCs from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and cell lines. Rigid scaffolds with an elevated compressive modulus and uniform pores and channels were produced using different filaments. Hydrogel-based scaffolds were printed with…
Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3K/PTEN/Akt/mTOR inhibitors: Rationale and importance to inhibiting these pathways in human health
2011
William H. Chappell 1 , Linda S. Steelman 1,2 , Jacquelyn M. Long 2 , Ruth C. Kempf 2 , Stephen L. Abrams 1 , Richard A. Franklin 1 , Jorg Basecke 3 , Franca Stivala 4 , Marco Donia 4 , Paolo Fagone 4 , Graziella Malaponte 4 , Maria C. Mazzarino 4 , Ferdinando Nicoletti 4 , Massimo Libra 4 , Danijela Maksimovic-Ivanic 5 , Sanja Mijatovic 5 , Giuseppe Montalto 6 , Melchiorre Cervello 7 , Piotr Laidler 8 , Michele Milella 9 , Agostino Tafuri 10 , Antonio Bonati 11 , Camilla Evangelisti 12 , Lucio Cocco 12 , Alberto M. Martelli 12,13 , and James A. McCubrey 1 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University 2 Department of Physics, Greenville, N…
Roles of EGFR and KRAS and their downstream signaling pathways in pancreatic cancer and pancreatic cancer stem cells
2015
Pancreatic cancer is currently the fourth most common cancer, is increasing in incidence and soon will be the second leading cause of cancer death in the USA. This is a deadly malignancy with an incidence that approximates the mortality with 44,000 new cases and 36,000 deaths each year. Surgery, although only modestly successful, is the only curative option. However, due the locally aggressive nature and early metastasis, surgery can be performed on less than 20% of patients. Cytotoxic chemotherapy is palliative, has significant toxicity and improves survival very little. Thus new treatment paradigms are needed desperately. Due to the extremely high frequency of KRAS gene mutations (>90%) d…
Erythropoietin activates cell survival pathways in breast cancer stem-like cells to protect them from chemotherapy
2013
Abstract Recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) analogs [erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA)] are clinically used to treat anemia in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. After clinical trials reporting increased adverse events and/or reduced survival in ESA-treated patients, concerns have been raised about the potential role of ESAs in promoting tumor progression, possibly through tumor cell stimulation. However, evidence is lacking on the ability of EPO to directly affect cancer stem–like cells, which are thought to be responsible for tumor progression and relapse. We found that breast cancer stem–like cells (BCSC) isolated from patient tumors express the EPO receptor and respond to …
Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3K/PTEN/Akt/mTOR cascade inhibitors: How mutations can result in therapy resistance and how to overcome resistance
2012
// James A. McCubrey 1 , Linda S. Steelman 1 , William H. Chappell 1 , Stephen L. Abrams 1 , Richard A. Franklin 1 , Giuseppe Montalto 2 , Melchiorre Cervello 3 , Massimo Libra 4 , Saverio Candido 4 , Grazia Malaponte 4 , Maria C. Mazzarino 4 , Paolo Fagone 4 , Ferdinando Nicoletti 4 , Jorg Basecke 5 , Sanja Mijatovic 6 , Danijela Maksimovic-Ivanic 6 , Michele Milella 7 , Agostino Tafuri 8 , Francesca Chiarini 9 , Camilla Evangelisti 9 , Lucio Cocco 10 , Alberto M. Martelli 9,10 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA 2 Department of Internal Medicine and Specialties, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy 3 Consi…
Colon Cancer Stem Cells Dictate Tumor Growth and Resist Cell Death by Production of Interleukin-4
2007
A novel paradigm in tumor biology suggests that cancer growth is driven by stem-like cells within a tumor. Here, we describe the identification and characterization of such cells from colon carcinomas using the stem cell marker CD133 that accounts around 2% of the cells in human colon cancer. The CD133(+) cells grow in vitro as undifferentiated tumor spheroids, and they are both necessary and sufficient to initiate tumor growth in immunodeficient mice. Xenografts resemble the original human tumor maintaining the rare subpopulation of tumorigenic CD133(+) cells. Further analysis revealed that the CD133(+) cells produce and utilize IL-4 to protect themselves from apoptosis. Consistently, trea…
IL-4 protects tumor cells from anti-CD95 and chemotherapeutic agents via up-regulation of antiapoptotic proteins
2004
Abstract We recently proposed that Th1 and Th2 cytokines exert opposite effects on the pathogenesis and clinical outcome of organ-specific autoimmunity by altering the expression of genes involved in target cell survival. Because a Th2 response against tumors is associated with poor prognosis, we investigated the ability of IL-4 to protect tumor cells from death receptor- and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. We found that IL-4 treatment significantly reduced CD95 (Fas/APO-1)- and chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis in prostate, breast, and bladder tumor cell lines. Analysis of antiapoptotic protein expression revealed that IL-4 stimulation resulted in up-regulation of cellular (c) FLIP/F…
Aurora-A Is Essential for the Tumorigenic Capacity and Chemoresistance of Colorectal Cancer Stem Cells
2010
Abstract Colorectal cancer stem cells (CR-CSC) are responsible for the generation and maintenance of intestinal tumors and are highly resistant to conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Aurora-A, a serine-threonine kinase involved in mitosis regulation, plays multiple key functions in tumor initiation and progression. We found that Aurora-A is overexpressed in primary colorectal tumor cells, in the CR-CSC fraction, and in stem cell–derived differentiated cells, compared with normal colon tissue. Aurora-A expression was functionally linked to centrosome amplification in CR-CSC, as indicated by the decrease in cells with multiple centrosomes that followed Aurora-A silencing. Knockdown of Auror…
Roles of signaling pathways in drug resistance, cancer initiating cells and cancer progression and metastasis
2014
The EGFR/PI3K/PTEN/Akt/mTORC pathway plays prominent roles in malignant transformation, prevention of apoptosis, drug resistance, cancer initiating cells (CICs) and metastasis. The expression of this pathway is frequently altered in breast and other cancers due to mutations at or aberrant expression of: HER2, EGFR1, PIK3CA, and PTEN as well as other oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. miRs and epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation are also important events which regulate this pathway. In some breast cancer cases, mutations at certain components of this pathway (e.g., PIK3CA) are associated with a better prognosis than breast cancers lacking these mutations. The expression of this pathw…
A novel CXCR4 antagonist counteracts paradoxical generation of cisplatin-induced pro-metastatic niches in lung cancer.
2021
Platinum-based chemotherapy remains widely used in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) despite experimental evidence of its potential to induce long-term detrimental effects, including the promotion of pro-metastatic microenvironments. In this study, we investigated the interconnected pathways underlying the promotion of cisplatin-induced metastases. In tumor-free mice, cisplatin treatment resulted in an expansion in the bone marrow of CCR2+CXCR4+Ly6Chigh inflammatory monocytes (IMs) and an increase in lung levels of stromal SDF-1, the CXCR4 ligand. In experimental lung metastasis assays, cisplatin-induced IMs promoted the extravasation of tumor cells and the expansion of CD133+CXCR…