Embryonic Stem Cells Can Generate Oral Epithelia under Matrix Instruction.

We aimed to investigate whether molecular clues from the extracellular matrix (ECM) can induce oral epithelial differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. Mouse embryonic stem cells (ESC) of the feeder-independent cell line E14 were used as a model for pluripotent stem cells. They were first grown in 2D on various matrices in media containing vitamin C and without leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Matrices investigated were gelatin, laminin, and extracellular matrices (ECM) synthesized by primary normal oral fibroblasts and keratinocytes in culture. Differentiation into epithelial lineages was assessed by light microscopy, immunocytochemistry, and flow cytometry for cytokeratins and stem cell markers. ESC grown in 2D on various matrices were afterwards grown in 3D organotypic cultures with or without oral fibroblasts in the collagen matrix and examined histologically and by immunohistochemistry for epithelial (keratin pairs 1/10 and 4/13 to distinguish epidermal from oral epithelia and keratins 8,18,19 to phenotype simple epithelia) and mesenchymal (vimentin) phenotypes. ECM synthesized by either oral fibroblasts or keratinocytes was able to induce, in 2D cultures, the expression of cytokeratins of the stratified epithelial phenotype. When grown in 3D, all ESC developed into two morphologically distinct cell populations on collagen gels: (i) epithelial-like cells organized in islands with occasional cyst- or duct-like structures and (ii) spindle-shaped cells suggestive of mesenchymal differentiation. The 3D culture on oral fibroblast-populated collagen matrices was necessary for further differentiation into oral epithelia. Only ESC initially grown on 2D keratinocyte or fibroblast-synthesized matrices reached full epithelial maturation. In conclusion, ESC can generate oral epithelia under matrix instruction.

Roles of hypoxia, stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in the spread and treatment resistance of head and neck cancer.

Evidence from a wide range of studies indicates that hypoxia and the resulting cellular changes that are induced by HIF-1α lead to transcriptional up-regulation of a diversity of genes that play major roles in modifying the cellular behaviour of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Although the mechanisms of cell adaptation to hypoxia are still not entirely clear, many studies relate hypoxia to enhanced survival of malignant cells. Stronger staining of tissue sections for HIF-1α correlates with poor prognostic outcomes, and the hypoxic tumour microenvironment generates selective pressures that enhance the ability of cancer stem cells (CSCs) to evade therapeutically induced cell death. The ability of hypoxia to further increase the resistance of CSCs to conventional therapeutics, whether they act by induction of apoptosis, senescence or autophagy, appears to limit therapeutic effectiveness of current agents. The demonstration of hypoxic induction of phenotypic changes leading to a subpopulation of CSCs with high motility, greater invasive properties and yet greater therapeutic resistance, complicates the issue still further. It appears that therapeutic interventions that allow manipulation of HIF-1α levels and responses, whether induced by hypoxia or by other mechanisms, could provide more effective actions of chemo- and radiotherapies at lower therapeutic dosages and thus result in better control of tumours with less toxicity to patients.

Single cell migration in oral squamous cell carcinoma - possible evidence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in vivo.

BACKGROUND: The invasion of cancer cells into the surrounding normal tissue is one of the defining features of cancer. While the phenomena of tumour budding, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the presence of myofibroblasts have independently been shown to be related to a poor prognosis of oral carcinomas, their relationship has not been examined in detail. METHODS: Paraffin-embedded tissues from 28 patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas were stained with antibodies to cytokeratin, α-SMA, vimentin, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Twist and evaluated for their expression in relation to invasive cancer cells and the surrounding tumour stroma. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A direct, histological relationship between invading, budding tumour cells and myofibroblasts was occasionally seen but was not a general feature. Most of the budding tumour cells at the invasive front had a decreased expression of E-cadherin, but we did not find that this was associated with a consistent or clear increase in either N-cadherin or vimentin. We therefore suggest that the budding of tumour cells is not dependent upon either myofibroblasts or a complete epithelial-mesenchymal transition and that these phenomena most likely represent separate processes in tumour progression.

Phenotypic plasticity and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in the behaviour and therapeutic response of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

It is increasingly recognised that phenotypic plasticity, apparently driven by epigenetic mechanisms, plays a key role in tumour behaviour and markedly influences the important processes of therapeutic survival and metastasis. An important source of plasticity in malignancy is epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a common epigenetically controlled event that results in transition of malignant cells between different phenotypic states that confer motility and enhance survival. In this review, we discuss the importance of phenotypic plasticity and its contribution to cellular heterogeneity in oral squamous cell carcinoma with emphasis on aspects of drug resistance and EMT.

Elevation in 5-FU-induced apoptosis in head and neck cancer stem cells by a combination of CDHP and GSK3ß inhibitors.

BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are involved in both tumourigenesis and in tumour recurrence after therapy. In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), there are two biologically different CSC phenotypes both of which express high levels of CD44 but differ in their expression levels of epithelial-specific antigen (ESA). One phenotype is CD44(high)/ESA(high) and has epithelial features (Epi-CSCs), while the other is CD44(high) /ESA(low), has undergone epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT-CSCs), has mesenchymal features and is migratory (Biddle et al., 2011). CSCs are resistant to therapeutically induced apoptosis but the molecular mechanisms by which they develop apoptotic resistance remains unclear. However, glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (GSK3ß) contributes to regulation of both the self-renewal and switching of these two CSC phenotypes (Shigeishi et al., 2013). METHODS: CD44(high) /ESA(low), CD44(high) /ESA(high) and CD44(low) cells were FACS sorted from the HNSCC cell line LUC4, and 5-FU-induced apoptosis was analysed by Annexin V staining followed by flow cytometry analysis. RESULTS: CD44(high) /ESA(low) cells exhibited marked resistance to 5-FU-induced apoptosis and had high expression of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD). The DPD inhibitor, 5-chloro-2, 4-dihydroxypyridine (CDHP) significantly enhanced 5-FU-induced apoptosis of CD44(high)/ESA(low) cells. Inhibition of GSK3ß induced CD44(high) /ESA(low) cells to undergo mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) to CD44(high)/ESA(high) cells and pre-existing CD44(high) /ESA(high) cells to differentiate. Apoptosis induced by 5-FU was thus facilitated. Combination of both CDHP and GSK3ß inhibitors markedly enhanced 5-FU-induced apoptosis of CD44(high) /ESA(low) cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest potentially new approaches for the elimination of the therapy resistant HNSCC CSC population.

Maintenance of stem cell self-renewal in head and neck cancers requires actions of GSK3ß influenced by CD44 and RHAMM.

Cells sorted from head and neck cancers on the basis of their high expression of CD44 have high potency for tumor initiation. These cells are also involved in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and we have previously reported that cancer stem cells (CSCs) exist as two biologically distinct phenotypes. Both phenotypes are CD44(high) but one is also ESA(high) and maintains epithelial characteristics, the other is ESA(low) , has mesenchymal characteristics and is migratory. Examining CD44-regulated signal pathways in these cells we show that CD44, and also RHAMM, act to inhibit phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (GSK3ß). We show that inhibitory phosphorylation reduces the formation of both "tumor spheres" and "holoclone" colonies, functional indicators of stemness. GSK3ß inhibition also reduces the expression of stem cell markers such as Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog and upregulates expression of the differentiation markers Calgranulin B and Involucrin in the CD44(high) /ESA(high) cell fraction. Transition of CSCs out of EMT and back to the epithelial CSC phenotype is induced by GSK3ß knockdown. These results indicate that GSK3ß plays a central role in determining and maintaining the phenotypes and behavior of CSCs in vitro and are likely to be involved in controlling the growth and spread of tumors in vivo.

Cancer stem cells and EMT in carcinoma.

The majority of deaths from carcinoma are caused by secondary growths that result from tumour invasion and metastasis. The importance of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as a driver of invasion and metastasis is increasingly recognised, and recent evidence has highlighted a link between EMT and the cancer stem cells that initiate and maintain tumours and have also been implicated in invasion and metastasis. Here, we review cancer stem cells and their link with EMT, and explore the importance of this link in metastasis and therapeutic resistance of tumours. We also discuss new evidence from our laboratory demonstrating that cancer stem cells display a remarkable phenotypic plasticity that enables them to switch between an epithelial phenotype that drives tumour growth and an EMT phenotype that drives metastasis. As successful therapies must eradicate cancer stem cells in all their guises, the identification of sub-types of cancer stem cells that display therapeutic resistance and phenotypic plasticity has important implications for the future design of therapeutic strategies. The ability to assay the responses of different cancer stem cell phenotypes in vitro holds promise for the rapid development of a new generation of targeted therapies that fulfil this objective.

Keratin k15 as a biomarker of epidermal stem cells.

Keratin 15 (K15) is type I keratin protein co-expressed with the K5/K14 pair present in the basal keratinocytes of all stratified epithelia. Although it is a minor component of the cytoskeleton with a variable expression pattern, nonetheless its expression has been reported as a stem cell marker in the bulge of hair follicles. Conversely, suprabasal expression of K15 has also been reported in both normal and diseased tissues, which is inconsistent with its role as a stem cell marker. Our recently published work has given evidence of the molecular pathways that seem to control the expression of K15 in undifferentiated and differentiated cells. In this article, we have critically reviewed the published work to establish the reliability of K15 as an epidermal stem cell marker.

Disseminating cells in human oral tumours possess an EMT cancer stem cell marker profile that is predictive of metastasis in image-based machine learning.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to drive metastatic dissemination in experimental cancer models. However, tumour cells undergoing EMT have not been observed disseminating into the tissue surrounding human tumour specimens, leaving the relevance to human cancer uncertain. We have previously identified both EpCAM and CD24 as CSC markers that, alongside the mesenchymal marker Vimentin, identify EMT CSCs in human oral cancer cell lines. This afforded the opportunity to investigate whether the combination of these three markers can identify disseminating EMT CSCs in actual human tumours. Examining disseminating tumour cells in over 12,000 imaging fields from 74 human oral tumours, we see a significant enrichment of EpCAM, CD24 and Vimentin co-stained cells disseminating beyond the tumour body in metastatic specimens. Through training an artificial neural network, these predict metastasis with high accuracy (cross-validated accuracy of 87-89%). In this study, we have observed single disseminating EMT CSCs in human oral cancer specimens, and these are highly predictive of metastatic disease.

When oral cancers metastasise ­ that is, when tumour cells invade other parts of the body ­ they typically do so by first colonizing the lymph nodes present in the neck. As this event significantly reduces chances of survival, oral cancer patients often have their neck lymph nodes removed to prevent the spread of the disease. However, this surgery carries risks and leads to longer hospital stays, stressing the need for better ways to predict which oral tumours will metastasise. Evidence from lab-grown cells and mice studies suggest that, in oral cancer, metastasis occurs when some cells in the original tumour go through a process called the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT for short). This transformation allows the cells to detach from the tumour and become invasive. However, it has so far been difficult to observe this process in actual human tumours; this is partly because cells undergoing EMT stop producing the proteins that scientists rely on to distinguish cancer and healthy cells. To address this knowledge gap, Youssef et al. focused on three proteins: two tumour markers, EpCAM and CD24; and Vimentin, which is produced in greater quantities in the invasive mesenchymal state. Previous work had shown that a specific population of oral tumour cells can continue to express all three proteins even when adopting a mesenchymal identity through EMT. Based on this knowledge, Youssef et al. hypothesised that tracking Vimentin, EpCAM and CD24 using fluorescence microscopy would allow them to identify metastasising cells in human samples. An analysis of over 12,000 images from 74 tumours obtained from surgeries revealed that, in the metastatic samples, the cells detaching from primary tumours were more likely to express these three proteins. Finally, Youssef et al. used these images to train a machine learning algorithm. When applied to data from new oral cancer patients, the programme was able to predict whether their tumours were likely to spread with 89% accuracy. If confirmed by further work, and in particular on larger samples, these findings could in the future help clinicians decide which patients with oral cancer would benefit the most from surgery to remove neck lymph nodes.

Stem cell characteristics of cell sub-populations in cell lines derived from head and neck cancers of Fanconi anemia patients.

Increasing evidence indicates that cancer growth is driven by a sub-population of self-renewing cancer stem cells (CSCs) and that clinical problems of tumor recurrence after therapy may be related to differential resistance of CSCs to therapeutic elimination. Fanconi anemia (FA) is an autosomal recessive disorder associated with deficiencies of DNA repair and a greatly enhanced risk of hematopoietic malignancies and of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). In FA patients, lack of DNA repair complicates therapies acting through DNA damage and alternative approaches, such as targeting signaling pathways associated with stem cell maintenance, might be of particular benefit. To assess effects of FA gene defects on the expression of stem cell properties, CSC patterns in cell lines derived from FA-related and sporadic HNSCC were compared. As for sporadic cell lines, FA cell lines showed colony morphologies associated with stem cell patterns. In all cell lines, cells with strong staining for CD44 (CD44(high) ) showed lower rates of apoptosis and a greater DNA damage induced block in the G2 phase of the cell cycle than CD44(low) cells. Mitomycin C, and UVB increased overall rates of apoptosis for both sporadic and FA cell lines, although FA cells tended to be more sensitive to apoptotic induction. Fluorescence activated cell sorting, immunohistochemistry, and QPCR indicated distinctly different patterns of gene expression of CD44(high) and CD44(low) cells in both sporadic and FA cell lines.

Normal and malignant epithelial cells with stem-like properties have an extended G2 cell cycle phase that is associated with apoptotic resistance.

BACKGROUND: Subsets of cells with stem-like properties have been previously isolated from human epithelial cancers and their resistance to apoptosis-inducing stimuli has been related to carcinoma recurrence and treatment failure. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms of resistance to apoptosis-inducing agents of cells with stem-like properties in both normal and malignant human epithelia. METHODS: Cells isolated from fresh human head and neck carcinomas (n = 11), cell lines derived from head and neck, prostate and breast human carcinomas (n = 7), and from normal human oral mucosa (n = 5), were exposed to various apoptosis-inducing stimuli (UV, Tumour Necrosis Factor, Cisplatin, Etoposide, and Neocarzinostatin). Flow cytometry for CD44 and epithelial-specific antigen (ESA) expression, colony morphology, tumour sphere formation and rapid adherence assays were used to identify the subset of cells with stem-like properties. Apoptosis, cell cycle and expression of various cell cycle checkpoint proteins were assessed (Western Blot, qPCR). The role of G2-checkpoint regulators Chk1 and Chk2 was investigated by use of debromohymenialdisine (DBH) and siRNA. RESULTS: In both cancer biopsies and carcinoma cell lines a subset of CD44(high) cells showed increased clonogenicity, a significantly lower rate of apoptosis, and a significantly higher proportion of cells in the G2-phase of the cell cycle. An inverse correlation between the percentage of cells in G2-phase and the rate of apoptosis was found. Pulse-chase with iododeoxyuridine (IdU) demonstrated that CD44(high) carcinoma cells spent longer time in G2, even in un-treated controls. These cells expressed higher levels of G2 checkpoint proteins, and their release from G2 with BDH or Chk1 siRNA increased their rate of apoptosis. Low passage cultures of normal keratinocytes were also found to contain a subset of CD44(high) cells showing increased clonogenicity, and a similar pattern of G2-block associated with apoptotic resistance. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that both normal and malignant human epithelial cells with stem-like properties show greater resistance to apoptosis associated with extended G2 cell cycle phase, and that this property is not a consequence of neoplastic transformation. Targeting G2 checkpoint proteins releases these cells from the G2-block and makes them more prone to apoptosis, implying an opportunity for improved therapeutic approaches.

Supramolecular Presentation of Hyaluronan onto Model Surfaces for Studying the Behavior of Cancer Stem Cells.

The supramolecular presentation of extracellular matrix components on surfaces provides a platform for the investigation and control of cell behavior. Hyaluronan (HA) is one of the main components of the extracellular environment and has been shown to play an important role in different cancers and their progression. However, current methods of HA immobilization often require its chemical modification. Herein, a peptide-based self-assembled monolayer (SAM) is used as an anchor to immobilize unmodified HA on a bare gold surface, as demonstrated by the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. Peptide-HA surfaces show increased roughness and greater hydrophobicity when compared to poly-D-lysine/HA surfaces, as measured by atomic force microscopy and water contact angle, respectively. Additionally, the peptide SAM can be micro-contact printed and used to restrict the presentation of HA to specific regions, thereby creating HA patterned surfaces to examine cell behavior. When used for cell culture, these surfaces result in altered adhesion and migration of LUC4 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells. These biomimetic surfaces can provide insights into the role of HA in cancer and other diseases and be used as a platform for the development of cell sorting devices.

Epithelial stem cells and malignancy.

The renewal of normal epithelia depends on a small sub-population of cells, termed somatic stem cells, whose primary characteristic is an ability for indefinite self-renewal. Evidence is accumulating that the growth of tumours similarly depends on a sub-population of malignant stem cells, often termed tumour-initiating cells. Tumour-initiating sub-populations within solid tumours have been identified by their cell surface expression of various phenotypic markers and by their ability to regenerate tumours in immune-deficient mice. Cells with such clonogenic abilities differ consistently from the remainder of the cell population in cellular properties such as size, adhesiveness, dye exclusion, and patterns of gene expression. Sub-populations of malignant cells freshly isolated from tumours also show differing patterns of expression of molecules related to stem cell maintenance and asymmetric division. As the cells ultimately responsible for tumour renewal, malignant stem cells appear to form the necessary target of therapy but some findings indicate greater resistance of these cells to the induction of apoptotic cell death and their potential failure to respond effectively to standard therapeutic procedures. Of particular interest, cells with clonogenic properties and expression patterns similar to those of tumour-initiating cells in vivo persist in malignant cell lines and show similar apoptotic resistance. Cell lines may thus provide a model for analysis of malignant stem cell properties and may be useful for the development of appropriate methods for their elimination.

Effects of Cetuximab and Erlotinib on the behaviour of cancer stem cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The therapeutic responses of many solid tumours to chemo- and radio-therapies are far from fully effective but therapies targeting malignancy-related cellular changes show promise for further control. In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is commonly overexpressed and investigation of agents that block this receptor indicate a limited response when used alone but an ability to enhance the actions of other drugs. The hierarchical stem cell patterns present in tumours generate cellular heterogeneity and this is further complicated by cancer stem cells (CSC) shifting between epithelial (Epi-CSC) and mesenchymal (EMT-CSC) states. To clarify how such heterogeneity influences responses to EGFR blocking, we examined the effects of Cetuximab and Erlotinib on the cell sub-populations in HNSCC cell lines. These agents reduced cell proliferation for all subpopulations but induced little cell death. They did however induce large shifts of cells between the EMT-CSC, Epi-CSC and differentiating cell compartments. Loss of EMT-CSCs reduced cell motility and is expected to reduce invasion and metastasis. EGFR blocking also induced shifts of Epi-CSCs into the differentiating cell compartment which typically has greater sensitivity to chemo/radiation, an effect expected to enhance the overall response of tumour cell populations to adjunctive therapies.

Retention of intrinsic stem cell hierarchies in carcinoma-derived cell lines.

Recent work indicates that the growth and behavior of cancers are ultimately determined by a small subpopulation of malignant stem cells and that information about the properties of these cells is urgently needed to enable their targeting for therapeutic elimination. A key feature of normal stem cells is their asymmetrical division, the mechanism that allows stem cell self-renewal while producing hierarchies of amplifying and differentiating cells that form the bulk of the tissue. Most cancer deaths result from epithelial malignancies, but the extent to which the hierarchical proliferative stem and amplifying cell patterns of normal epithelia are actually retained in epithelial malignancies has been unclear. Here we show that even cell lines generated from carcinomas consistently produce in vitro colony patterns unexpectedly similar to those produced by the stem and amplifying cells of normal epithelia. From the differing types of colony morphologies formed, it is possible to predict both the growth potential of their constituent cells and their patterns of macromolecular expression. Maintenance of a subpopulation of stem cells during passage of cell lines indicates that the key stem cell property of asymmetrical division persists but is shifted towards enhanced stem cell self-renewal. The presence of malignant epithelial stem cells in vivo has been shown by serial transplantation of primary cancer cells and the present observations indicate that stem cell patterns are robust and persist even in cell lines. An understanding of this behavior should facilitate studies directed towards the molecular or pharmacologic manipulation of malignant stem cell survival.

Stem cell properties and epithelial malignancies.

The growth and repair of normal tissues depends on a small sub-population of cells termed somatic stem cells whose primary characteristic is an ability for indefinite self-renewal. Epithelial stem cells divide to produce cells, termed transient amplifying cells, that undergo a few rounds of more rapid division before they terminally differentiate. Evidence that the growth of tumours, as for normal tissues, is ultimately dependent on a subpopulation of the proliferatively competent cells was first shown for leukaemias by isolation of small sub-populations of phenotypically distinct 'tumour-initiating cells'. Differing cell surface phenotypes also prospectively identify tumour-initiating sub-populations in solid tumours. Even cell lines derived from tumours retain hierarchical stem cell patterns demonstrable as differing clonogenic abilities related to cellular properties such as size, adhesiveness, dye exclusion, and patterns of gene expression. Malignant stem cells appear to form the primary targets of therapy, but how differences between malignant stem and other cells affect therapeutic responses remains unclear. However, transplantation methods exist for their analysis and the in vitro persistence of stem cell patterns may provide systems for developing new therapeutic approaches.

Phenotypic Plasticity Determines Cancer Stem Cell Therapeutic Resistance in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) drive tumour spread and therapeutic resistance, and can undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) to switch between epithelial and post-EMT sub-populations. Examining oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), we now show that increased phenotypic plasticity, the ability to undergo EMT/MET, underlies increased CSC therapeutic resistance within both the epithelial and post-EMT sub-populations. The post-EMT CSCs that possess plasticity exhibit particularly enhanced therapeutic resistance and are defined by a CD44(high)EpCAM(low/-) CD24(+) cell surface marker profile. Treatment with TGFß and retinoic acid (RA) enabled enrichment of this sub-population for therapeutic testing, through which the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stressor and autophagy inhibitor Thapsigargin was shown to selectively target these cells. Demonstration of the link between phenotypic plasticity and therapeutic resistance, and development of an in vitro method for enrichment of a highly resistant CSC sub-population, provides an opportunity for the development of improved chemotherapeutic agents that can eliminate CSCs.

Invasive oral cancer stem cells display resistance to ionising radiation.

There is a significant amount of evidence to suggest that human tumors are driven and maintained by a sub-population of cells, known as cancer stem cells (CSC). In the case of head and neck cancer, such cells have been characterised by high expression levels of CD44 cell surface glycoprotein, while we have previously shown the presence of two diverse oral CSC populations in vitro, with different capacities for cell migration and proliferation. Here, we examined the response of oral CSC populations to ionising radiation (IR), a front-line measure for the treatment of head and neck tumors. We show that oral CSC initially display resistance to IR-induced growth arrest as well as relative apoptotic resistance. We propose that this is a result of preferential activation of the DNA damagerepair pathway in oral CSC with increased activation of ATM and BRCA1, elevated levels of DNA repair proteins RAD52, XLF, and a significantly faster rate of DNA double-strand-breaks clearance 24 hours following IR. By visually identifying CSC sub-populations undergoing EMT, we show that EMT-CSC represent the majority of invasive cells, and are more radio-resistant than any other population in re-constructed 3D tissues. We provide evidence that IR is not sufficient to eliminate CSC in vitro, and that sensitization of CD44hi/ESAlow cells to IR, followed by secondary EMT blockade, could be critical in order to reduce primary tumor recurrence, but more importantly to be able to eradicate cells capable of invasion and distant metastasis.

CD44 staining of cancer stem-like cells is influenced by down-regulation of CD44 variant isoforms and up-regulation of the standard CD44 isoform in the population of cells that have undergone epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

CD44 is commonly used as a cell surface marker of cancer stem-like cells in epithelial tumours, and we have previously demonstrated the existence of two different CD44(high) cancer stem-like cell populations in squamous cell carcinoma, one having undergone epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and the other maintaining an epithelial phenotype. Alternative splicing of CD44 variant exons generates a great many isoforms, and it is not known which isoforms are expressed on the surface of the two different cancer stem-like cell phenotypes. Here, we demonstrate that cancer stem-like cells with an epithelial phenotype predominantly express isoforms containing the variant exons, whereas the cancer stem-like cells that have undergone an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition down-regulate these variant isoforms and up-regulate expression of the standard CD44 isoform that contains no variant exons. In addition, we find that enzymatic treatments used to dissociate cells from tissue culture or fresh tumour specimens cause destruction of variant CD44 isoforms at the cell surface whereas expression of the standard CD44 isoform is preserved. This results in enrichment within the CD44(high) population of cancer stem-like cells that have undergone an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and depletion from the CD44(high) population of cancer stem-like cells that maintain an epithelial phenotype, and therefore greatly effects the characteristics of any cancer stem-like cell population isolated based on expression of CD44. As well as effecting the CD44(high) population, enzymatic treatment also reduces the percentage of the total epithelial cancer cell population staining CD44-positive, with potential implications for studies that aim to use CD44-positive staining as a prognostic indicator. Analyses of the properties of cancer stem-like cells are largely dependent on the ability to accurately identify and assay these populations. It is therefore critical that consideration be given to use of multiple cancer stem-like cell markers and suitable procedures for cell isolation in order that the correct populations are assayed.

Sub-sets of cancer stem cells differ intrinsically in their patterns of oxygen metabolism.

The glycolytic response of hypoxic cells is primarily mediated by the hypoxia inducible factor alpha (HIF-1α) but even in the presence of abundant oxygen tumours typically show high rates of glycolysis. Higher levels of HIF-1α in tumours are associated with a poorer prognosis and up-regulation of markers of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) due to HIF-1α actions. We have recently shown that EMT occurs within the CD44(high) cancer stem cell (CSC) fraction and that epithelial and EMT CSCs are distinguished by high and low ESA expression, respectively. We here show that hypoxia induces a marked shift of the CSC fraction towards EMT leading to altered cell morphology, an increased proportion of CD44(high)/ESA(low) cells, patterns of gene expression typical of EMT, and enhanced sphere-forming ability. The size of EMT fractions returned to control levels in normoxia indicating a reversible process. Surprisingly, however, even under normoxic conditions a fraction of EMT CSCs was present and maintained high levels of HIF-1α, apparently due to actions of cytokines such as TNFα. Functionally, this EMT CSC fraction showed decreased mitochondrial mass and membrane potential, consumed far less oxygen per cell, and produced markedly reduced levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These differences in the patterns of oxygen metabolism of sub-fractions of tumour cells provide an explanation for the general therapeutic resistance of CSCs and for the even greater resistance of EMT CSCs. They also identify potential mechanisms for manipulation of CSCs.