Updates sent to Twitter, April 19-25

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during April 19-25:

Geron Presentations on Imetelstat (GRN163L) at the AACR 2009 Annual Meeting [April 23]: http://bit.ly/Ruzqj

Micromet Presents Data at AACR Meeting Showing Elimination of Colorectal Cancer Stem Cells by BiTE Antibody MT110 [April 22]: http://is.gd/tYlI

Physiologic Oxygen Concentration Enhances the Stem-Like Properties of CD133+ Human Glioblastoma Cells In vitro [April 21]: http://bit.ly/QBoo2

How powerful is CD133 as a cancer stem cell marker in brain tumors? [April 21]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19369008

A combination therapy to reduce CSC and stop pancreatic cancer growth? AACR abstract [April 20]: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/551130/

Possibility raised for new applications of type I interferons to target CSC. [April 19] See: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature07815

Hedgehog signalling is essential for maintenance of cancer stem cells in myeloid leukaemia [April 19][Archived tweet]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19169242
[See also: Hedgehog signalling is essential for maintenance of cancer stem cells in myeloid leukemia, Sally Church, Pharma Strategy Blog, March 24, 2009].

Questioning the CSC hypothesis

Cancer's culprit: Breast cancer's genetic profile calls the cancer stem cell hypothesis into question by Elie Dolgin, The Scientist 2009(Apr); 23(4): 59. Publicly accessible (free registration required). Excerpts:

In 2007, the CSC hypothesis was thrown for a loop, however, after a team led by Kornelia Polyak, of the Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, probed a bit deeper into the Michigan team's findings. In this month's Hot Paper, [reference 2] Polyak's team compared the genetic profiles of the putative breast CSCs with other more differentiated cells, and found several genetic differences between the two cell populations. This "raises doubts about whether they are direct descendents of one another," says Polyak.

.....

Notably, Baylor oncologist Jenny Chang, together with her colleague Jeffrey Rosen, compared breast tumors in patients before and after chemotherapy, and found a three-fold enrichment in cells resembling CSCs following treatment, signifying that tumorigenic cells are, indeed, more resilient. [reference 5] "There are different subpopulations of [cancer] cells that we need to target separately," says Chang. These results lend credibility to the CSC hypothesis where it really counts, adds Wicha. "It's a valid model because it actually predicts behavior in the clinic," he says.

Reference 2: M. Shipitsin et al., "Molecular definition of breast tumor heterogeneity," Cancer Cell, 11:259-73, 2007. [PubMed Citation].

Reference 5: X. Li et al., "Intrinsic resistance of tumorigenic breast cancer cells to chemotherapy," J Natl Cancer Inst, 100:672-9, 2008. [PubMed Citation].

Updates sent to Twitter, April 12-18

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during April 12-18:

Emerging involvement of Hsp90 inhibition in cancer stem cells? [April 18]: See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19179103

Transitions between epithelial and mesenchymal states: acquisition of malignant and stem cell traits [April 16]: http://tinyurl.com/cetza2
[Full text is publicly accessible (free registration is required)].

Evidence that cigarette smoke activates a signaling network implicated in maintenance of CSC [April 16]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19351856

Loss of p53 induces tumorigenesis in p21-deficient mesenchymal stem cells (OA) [April 15]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19308294
[Full text is publicly accessible].

Simultaneous detection of mRNA and protein stem cell markers in live cells (OA) [April 15]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19341452
[Full text is publicly accessible (via Libre OA)].

Inferring clonal expansion and cancer stem cell dynamics from DNA methylation patterns in colorectal cancers (OA) [April 15]: http://tinyurl.com/cezflq
[Full text is publicly accessible].

Autophagy inhibitors may enhance the therapeutic effects of TK inhibitors in the treatment of CML (gratis OA) [April 15]: http://tinyurl.com/cbmb7m
[Full text is publicly accessible (via Gratis OA)].

Tumor initiating cancer stem cells from human breast cancer cell lines [April 15]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19360358

Cellular immortality and cancer: From telomerase to cancer stem cells [April 15]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2009.03.006

Copy number analysis indicates monoclonal origin of lethal metastatic prostate cancer [April 15]. See: http://www.webcitation.org/5gBP6TVOb
[PubMed Abstract]

Lessons Learned from the Study of JunB: New Insights for Normal and Leukemia Stem Cell Biology [April 12]: http://tinyurl.com/den2nq
[Full text is currently publicly accessible].

Glioma Stem Cells: Not All Created Equal [April 12]: http://tinyurl.com/dmcd36
[Full text is currently publicly accessible].

Are Cancer Stem Cells Real? After Four Decades, Debate Still Simmers (JNCI Apr 7, 2009) [April 12]: http://tinyurl.com/cofp6j

Article in the San Francisco News

Stem-cell stalemate: The push for cures may produce only disappointment - or worse, Peter Jamison, San Francisco News, April 14, 2009. Excerpt from page 5:

And CIRM's 2009 funding priorities speak volumes about the direction of its decision-making. In its first two years of operating — legal challenges kept CIRM from starting its operations until 2007, setting back its sunset date to 2017 — the agency has distributed more than $600 million in grants for basic science and facilities. By contrast, the next round of grants will devote more than $200 million to disease teams; the goal for these teams is to prepare therapies for FDA clinical trials within four years. As little as $20 million will go to basic research.

Found via: The California Stem Cell Story: Safety, Waste and Promises, David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report, April 15, 2009.

Updates sent to Twitter, April 5-11

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during April 5-11:

Cancer stem cells: relevance to stem cell transplantation (gratis OA review) [April 10]. Found via: http://tinyurl.com/cgd6td
[Full text is publicly accessible].

Human glioblastoma–derived cancer stem cells treated with oncolytic herpes simplex virus vectors [April 10]. Found via: http://tinyurl.com/crv3wg

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Is a Marker for Normal and Malignant Human Colonic Stem Cells (SC)... [April 9] : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19336570

How new California bond funds might flow to CIRM (Monya Baker, The Niche, April 8, 2009) [April 9]: http://tinyurl.com/chf4ho

CIRM Research Updates - Posts tagged with 'Cancer' [April 9]: http://tinyurl.com/cdb5jt

Reovirus kills cancer stem cells (about the article in Molecular Therapy, 17 March 2009) [April 9]: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=48079

Oncolytic Reovirus Effectively Targets Breast Cancer Stem Cells, Molecular Therapy (17 March 2009) [April 9]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/mt.2009.58

Targeting cancer stem cells for more effective therapies: taking out cancer's locomotive engine [April 5]: http://tinyurl.com/d9nt34

Cancer stem cells: the emerging challenge of drug targeting, Curr Med Chem 2009;16(4):394-416 [April 5]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19199913

Rak gene helps protect PTEN tumor suppressor

News release: Gene Prevents Destruction of Tumor Suppressor in Breast Cancer, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, April 6, 2009. Excerpt from the end of the release:

"Recently, we found that Rak can prevent spontaneous DNA damage and has a critical role in suppressing cancer stem cells," he [Shiaw-Yih Lin] said. "So, we will expand our research efforts toward determining how Rak helps to maintain genomic integrity."

Other versions of this news release: Rak gene helps protect tumor suppressor in breast cancer, News-Medical.Net, April 7, 2009; Gene Helps Protect Tumor Suppressor In Breast Cancer, ScienceDaily, April 6, 2009.

The news releases are based on this article: Rak functions as a tumor suppressor by regulating PTEN protein stability and function by Eun-Kyoung Yim and 10 co-authors, including Shiaw-Yih Lin, Cancer Cell 2009(Apr 7); 15(4): 304-14 [PubMed Citation][Full text].

Updates sent to Twitter, March 29-April 4

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during March 29-April 4:

A novel approach to the identification and enrichment of cancer stem cells from a cultured human glioma cell line [March 31]: http://tinyurl.com/djen6j

Inhibitory effects of omacetaxine on leukemic stem cells (Cancer Stem Cell News blog, March 31, 2009) [March 31]: http://tinyurl.com/d9vvwa

Oncogenic Kras Initiates Leukemia in Hematopoietic Stem Cells (PLoS Biol 2009(Mar 17);7(3):e59) [April 1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19296721
[Full text is openly accessible].

Immune-Induced Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition In vivo Generates Breast Cancer Stem Cells [April 1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19276366

Cancer Stem Cells Generated by Cancer Outgrowth

Mouse Fibroblasts Lacking RB1 Function Form Spheres and Undergo Reprogramming to a Cancer Stem Cell Phenotype, by Yongqing Liu and 10 co-authors, including Douglas C Dean, Cell Stem Cell 2009(Apr 3); 4(4), 336-47. [Summary][Publicly accessible full text].

Examples of related news items:

Cancer stem cells generated by cancer outgrowth, Life Sciences World, April 2, 2009. First sentence:

Scientists have discovered that growing mouse skin cells in spheres can lead to generation of cells with properties of cancer stem cells, even without genetic manipulation of stem cell genes.

Cancer Stem Cells Generated by Cancer Outgrowth, Disabled World, April 2, 2009.