Development of new target therapy for endometrial cancer stem cells

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We previously demonstrated that side-population (SP) cells in human endometrial cancer cells have features of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Hec1-SP cells showed enhanced migration and the potential to differentiate into the mesenchymal cell lineage. We analyzed the association of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) with the properties of endometrial CSC. We also assessed and the effects of salinomycin (a compound with EMT-specific toxicity) on the proliferative capacity, migration and invasiveness of endometrial CSCs using Hec1-SP cells. We demonstrated that i) EMT processes were observed in SP cells, ii) the level of fibronectin was enhanced in SP cells and salinomycin reduced the level of fibronectin expression, iii) salinomycin induced apoptosis and inhibited Wnt signaling, and iv) salinomycin inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasiveness and tumorigenicity of SP cells. This is the first report of an inhibitory effect of salinomycin on the properties of endometrial CSCs.