A novel model of liver cancer stem cells developed from induced pluripotent stem cells.

BACKGROUND: Liver cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death. Every type of tumours including liver cancer contains cancer stem cells (CSCs). To date, the molecular mechanism regulating the development of liver CSCs remains unknown. METHODS: In this study, we tried to generate a new model of liver CSCs by converting mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs) with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line Huh7 cells conditioned medium (CM). miPSCs treated with CM were injected into the liver of BALB/c nude mice. The developed tumours were then excised and analysed. RESULTS: The primary cultured cells from the malignant tumour possessed self-renewal capacity, differentiation potential and tumorigenicity in vivo, which were found rich in liver cancer-associated markers as well as CSC markers. CONCLUSIONS: We established a model of liver CSCs converting from miPS and showed different stages of stemness during conversion process. Our CSC model will be important to assess the molecular mechanisms necessary to develop liver CSCs and could help in defeating liver cancer.

CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF THE RED SEA SOFT CORAL SARCOPHYTON TROCHELIOPHORUM.

The present study describes the in vitro cytotoxic effects of soft coral (Sarcophyton tiocheliophorum). Soft corals of genus Sarcophyton were reported to contain compounds that are active against brine shrimp and promote paclitaxel cytotoxicity in the human colon cancer Caco-2 cell line. The n-hexane extract of the soft coral Sarcophyton tiocheliophorum induced significant dose-dependent toxicity (LC50 96.7 ppm) compared with ethyl acetate (LC50. 120 ppm). We reported the most active cytotoxic level to be correspondence to LC50 values of 20.2, 59.2 ppm and 18.9 and 26 ppm. Accordingly, bio-assay guided fractionation was conducted to identi- fy the bioactive compounds. Arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were characterized based on GC-MS analyses. Our results demonstrate the value of marine products as a natural source of medicinally interesting cytotoxic compounds.

Signaling Inhibitors Accelerate the Conversion of mouse iPS Cells into Cancer Stem Cells in the Tumor Microenvironment.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a class of cancer cells characterized by self-renewal, differentiation and tumorigenic potential. We previously established a model of CSCs by culturing mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs) for four weeks in the presence of a conditioned medium (CM) of cancer cell lines, which functioned as the tumor microenvironment. Based on this methodology of developing CSCs from miPSCs, we assessed the risk of 110 non-mutagenic chemical compounds, most of which are known as inhibitors of cytoplasmic signaling pathways, as potential carcinogens. We treated miPSCs with each compound for one week in the presence of a CM of Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells. However, one-week period was too short for the CM to convert miPSCs into CSCs. Consequently, PDO325901 (MEK inhibitor), CHIR99021 (GSK-3ß inhibitor) and Dasatinib (Abl, Src and c-Kit inhibitor) were found to confer miPSCs with the CSC phenotype in one week. The tumor cells that survived exhibited stemness markers, spheroid formation and tumorigenesis in Balb/c nude mice. Hence, we concluded that the three signal inhibitors accelerated the conversion of miPSCs into CSCs. Similarly to our previous study, we found that the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway was upregulated in the CSCs. Herein, we focused on the expression of relative genes after the treatment with these three inhibitors. Our results demonstrated an increased expression of pik3ca, pik3cb, pik3r5 and pik3r1 genes indicating class IA PI3K as the responsible signaling pathway. Hence, AKT phosphorylation was found to be up-regulated in the obtained CSCs. Inhibition of Erk1/2, tyrosine kinase, and/or GSK-3ß was implied to be involved in the enhancement of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway in the undifferentiated cells, resulting in the sustained stemness, and subsequent conversion of miPSCs into CSCs in the tumor microenvironment.

Antibacterial effect of the red sea soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum.

The marine soft corals Sarcophyton trocheliophorum crude extracts possessed antimicrobial activity towards pathogenic bacterial strains, i.e. Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Bioassay-guided fractionation indicated that the antimicrobial effect was due to the presence of terpenoid bioactive derivatives. Further biological assays of the n-hexane fractions were carried out using turbidity assay, inhibition zone assay and minimum inhibitory concentration for investigating the growth-inhibition effect towards the Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The fractions were screened and the structure of the isolated compound was justified by interpretation of the spectroscopic data, mainly mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The structure was assigned as (5S)-3-[(3E,5S)-5-hydroxy-3-hepten-6-yn-1-yl]-5-methyl-2(5H)-furanone and was effective at concentrations as low as 0.20 mg/mL. The above findings, in the course of our ongoing research on marine products, may implicate that the profound anti-microbial activity of the S. trocheliophorum soft corals, inhabiting the red sea reefs, is attributed to the presence of growth-inhibiting secondary metabolites mainly terpenoids.