Novel therapeutic strategy targeting pancreatic cancer stem cell-niche

我们进行了综合分析，以确定癌症干细胞相关表型的重要调节因子和胰腺癌干细胞的新标记物。与IPMN相比，MIR-197在胰腺癌组织中高表达，并且这种microRNA在癌细胞中具有促进上皮向间充质转化(EMT)的作用。MIR-197直接靶向p120连环蛋白，这对维持上皮表型很重要。一种膜蛋白CDCP1在胰腺癌细胞中高度表达，其基因敲除可减弱肿瘤干细胞相关表型，如EMT或球体形成。此外，我们还证实了CDCP1在胰腺癌细胞中的表达受BMP4/ERK通路的调控。这些数据将导致识别可以消除癌症干细胞的新的治疗靶点。

We performed a comprehensive analysis to identify an important regulator of cancer stem cell-related phenotype and a novel marker of pancreatic cancer stem cell. miR-197 was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissue compared with IPMN, and this microRNA had an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-promoting role in cancer cells. miR-197 directly targeted p120 catenin, which was important for the maintenance of epithelial phenotypes. A membrane protein CDCP1 was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer cells, whose knockdown attenuated the cancer stem cell-related phenotypes such as EMT or spheroid formation. Furthermore, we confirmed that the expression of CDCP1 was regulated by BMP4/ERK pathway in pancreatic cancer cells. These data would lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets that could eliminate cancer stem cells.