Cell softness regulates tumorigenicity and stemness of cancer cells.
EMBO J
; 40(2): e106123, 2021 01 15.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33274785
ABSTRACT
Identifying and sorting highly tumorigenic and metastatic tumor cells from a heterogeneous cell population is a daunting challenge. Here, we show that microfluidic devices can be used to sort marker-based heterogeneous cancer stem cells (CSC) into mechanically stiff and soft subpopulations. The isolated soft tumor cells (< 400 Pa) but not the stiff ones (> 700 Pa) can form a tumor in immunocompetent mice with 100 cells per inoculation. Notably, only the soft, but not the stiff cells, isolated from CD133+ , ALDH+ , or side population CSCs, are able to form a tumor with only 100 cells in NOD-SCID or immunocompetent mice. The Wnt signaling protein BCL9L is upregulated in soft tumor cells and regulates their stemness and tumorigenicity. Clinically, BCL9L expression is correlated with a worse prognosis. Our findings suggest that the intrinsic softness is a unique marker of highly tumorigenic and metastatic tumor cells.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Neoplastic Stem Cells
/
Carcinogenesis
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
EMBO J
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China