Metastasis of carcinoma involves migration of tumor cells to distant organs and initiate secondary tumors. Migration requires a complete or partial Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), and tumor-initiation requires cells possessing stemness. Epithelial cells (E) undergoing a complete EMT to become mesenchymal (M) have been suggested to be more likely to possess stemness. However, recent ...

Cancer stem cell survival is the leading factor for tumor recurrence after tumor-suppressive treatments. Therefore, specific and efficient inhibitors of cancer stemness must be discovered for reducing tumor recurrence. YM155 has been indicated to significantly reduce stemness-derived tumorsphere formation. However, the pharmaceutical mechanism of YM155 against cancer stemness is unclear. This s...

Abstract Gliomas are the most common central nervous system neoplasm and despite past significant progress, its diagnostics faces suboptimal classification which impacts patient management. The stem cell-like phenotype of various cancers is correlated with worst overall prognosis. We propose a Stemness prediction model based on gene expression signatures neural progenitors that can be used to m...

Understanding the mechanism by which cancer cells enhance stemness facilitates cancer therapies. Here, we revealed that a stem cell transcription factor, SALL4, functions to enhance stemness in basal-like breast cancer cells. We used shRNA-mediated knockdown and gene overexpression systems to analyze gene functions. To evaluate stemness, we performed a sphere formation assay. In SALL4 knockdown...

Matrix stiffness as an important physical attribute of extracellular matrix exerts significant impacts on biological behaviors of cancer cells such as growth, proliferation, motility, metabolism and invasion. However, its influence on cancer stemness still remains elusive. Here, we explore whether matrix stiffness-mediated effects on stemness characteristics occur in HCC cells. As the substrate...

Cancer stemness is a concept used to describe a minor population of cells (cancer stem cells-CSCs) residing in a tumor, which possess self-renewal properties and are resistant to chemo/radiation therapy. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a major mechanism of cancer metastasis, is a process which generates cells with stem-like properties. The relationship between cancer stemness and EMT i...

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) contribute to tumour heterogeneity, therapy resistance and metastasis. However, the regulatory mechanisms of cancer cell stemness remain elusive. Here we identify PCNA-associated factor (PAF) as a key molecule that controls cancer cell stemness. PAF is highly expressed in breast cancer cells but not in mammary epithelial cells (MECs). In MECs, ectopic expression of PAF ...

miR-203 is a tumor suppressor that is disregulated in numerous malignancies including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the role of miR-203 in suppressing tumor stemness, chemotherapy resistance as well as its molecular mechanisms are unclear. In this study, we observed that miR-203 suppressed cell migration, invasion, tumor stemness, and chemotherapy resistance to cisplatin (DDP) in vit...

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small population of cancer cells that exhibit stemness. These cells contribute to cancer metastasis, treatment resistance, and relapse following therapy; therefore, they may cause malignancy and reduce the success of cancer treatment. Nuclear factor kappa B- (NF-κB-) mediated inflammatory responses increase stemness in cancer cells, and CSCs constitutively exhibit...