胚胎干细胞特异性分子标志

胚胎干细胞(embryonic stem cells,ES细胞)特异性分子标志是指ES细胞胞内或胞膜上特异表达的分子.已报道的包括转录因子、信号通路受体、黏附因子在内的ES细胞特异性标志与ES细胞的自我更新和全能性具有密切关系.ES细胞特异性分子标志的研究,有助于ES细胞的鉴定、分离纯化、质量控制,加快ES细胞的基础研究和临床应用.现对目前已经发现的ES细胞特异性分子标志及其研究方法和常用ES细胞分子标志的功能进行综述.     

胰腺癌干细胞研究现状

胰腺癌是恶性程度非常高、预后非常差的消化道肿瘤之一。大部分患者发现时已属无法手术切除的晚期胰腺癌,并对放化疗不敏感。最近的研究表明胰腺癌干细胞是胰腺癌发生和进展的源头,并对放疗和化疗导致的凋亡耐受,对胰腺癌干细胞自我更新和耐药机制的深入研究可能发现对胰腺癌更有效的治疗措施。现对胰腺癌干细胞研究现状作一综述。     

microRNA在胰腺癌中的研究进展

胰腺癌是预后很差的恶性肿瘤,其分子机制的研究是治愈胰腺癌的希望.microRNA(miRNA)是一类小分子非编码RNA,通过降解或抑制靶基因mRNA的翻译调节靶基因的功能.近年来,研究发现miRNA在胰腺癌中异常表达,有上调,也有下调.虽然很多miRNA异常表达的机制尚不清楚,但启动子CpG甲基化与在胰腺癌中某些miRNA的下调有关.研究发现miRNA表达谱可用于胰腺癌和单个miRNA表达如miR-21、miR-34、miR-10a、miR-155、miR-196a及miR-200和let-7家族成员等可作为肿瘤标志物用于胰腺癌与正常胰腺、慢性胰腺炎、胰腺内分泌肿瘤等的诊断和鉴别诊断,预测胰腺癌的预后等.研究发现miRNA在胰腺癌中上调或下调参与胰腺癌的增殖、凋亡、侵袭、转移以及对化疗药物的耐药.研究发现miR-34、miR-200c等与胰腺癌干细胞的自我更新有关.这些miRNA研究将为胰腺癌的早期诊断、分子靶向治疗打下坚实的基础.     

干细胞命运决定的分子调控网络

来源于囊胚期胚胎内细胞团的胚胎干细胞具有独特的生物学特性,包括无限自我更新的能力以及分化为内胚层、中胚层和外胚层各种细胞的潜能.阐明胚胎干细胞全能性维持以及向各种特定细胞分化的分子机制,不仅有助于我们了解胚胎发育过程,而且将促进胚胎干细胞尽早应用于疾病治疗.本文主要就干细胞的一种命运决定过程,维持胚胎干细胞全能性或失去全能性开始分化,结合最新的研究进展讨论该过程中的分子调控网络,包括信号转导通路、表达调控网络以及表观遗传调控.     

精原干细胞自我更新和分化的调控

精原干细胞（spermatogonial stem cells,SSCs）是体内自然状态下惟一能将遗传信息传至子代的成体干细胞,它们能通过维持自我更新和分化的稳定从而保证雄性生命过程中精子发生的持续进行。了解SSCs自我更新和分化的调节机制有助于阐明精子发生机理,并为探究其他组织中成体干细胞增殖分化的调节机制提供依据。然而目前对于SSCs自我更新和分化的调控机制所知甚少。SSCs的更新与分化遵循特定模式,受以睾丸支持细胞为主要成分的微环境及各种内分泌因素如胶质细胞源神经营养因子（GDNF）、维生素、Ets转录因子ERM/Etv5等的调控。本文评述了SSCs更新与分化的模式以及上述因素对其更新、分化的调控,探讨了其中可能涉及的信号通路,以期为本领域及其他成体干细胞相关研究提供借鉴。     

GATA1通过上调NANOG促进胰腺癌肿瘤干细胞形成

目的:探究GATA1在胰腺癌肿瘤干细胞形成中的功能和作用机制。方法:通过流式细胞术检测GATA1对胰腺癌肿瘤干细胞形成的影响;通过实时荧光定量PCR和Western印迹筛选和验证GATA1下游的干性基因;通过双萤光素酶报告基因实验和染色质免疫共沉淀明确GATA1的调控机制。结果:GATA1过表达细胞株中肿瘤干细胞含量增加;GATA1上调NANOG的mRNA和蛋白表达水平;GATA1可以增强NANOG启动子的活性;GATA1结合在NANOG启动子-527^-524bp处的GATA序列。结论:GATA1可以通过结合在NANOG启动子上激活其转录,促进胰腺癌肿瘤干细胞的形成。     

哺乳动物精原干细胞自我更新调控的研究进展

精原干细胞（spermatogonial stem cells,SSCs）具有自我更新和分化的功能,这两种功能的平衡协调不仅能维持其自身数量的稳定,还能满足雄性动物精子生成的需要。近几年,由于细胞培养技术、基因工程技术、生殖细胞移植技术的建立和完善,使SSCs自我更新调控机制的研究取得了许多突破,主要体现在蛋白调控因子和微小RNA分子以及DNA甲基化新作用的发现等方面。该文将着重围绕调控SSCs自我更新的外源性细胞因子和内源性转录因子等蛋白因子进行综述,以期为哺乳动物SSCs的深入研究提供借鉴。     

维持胚胎干细胞生物学特性的分子调控机制

胚胎干(embryonic stem,ES)细胞来源于植入前的胚胎.在体外培养条件下,可保持分化成机体各种类型细胞的能力,即全能性.因此,胚胎干细胞被广泛用作研究胚胎发生、发育的细胞模型,也是目前开展细胞移植性治疗研究的重要来源.揭示维持ES细胞自我更新和全能性的分子调控机制,是ES细胞基础研究和临床治疗基础研究的重要领域.目前研究发现,不同的信号通路、转录因子及其通过激活ES细胞特异性表达谱对维持ES细胞多能性、自我更新发挥关键作用。     

哺乳动物精原干细胞的分子标记及调控

精原干细胞(spermatogonial stem cells,SSCs)是一群生活在睾丸特殊微环境中并能自我更新和具有多向分化潜能的细胞,是精子发生的基础。近年来,通过对SSCs表面的α6-和β1-整合素、CD9、GFRA1等主要标记分子,以及对GDNF、Plzf、泛素、LIF等决定SSCs自我更新和分化的多种细胞因子和基因的研究发现,目前在SSCs的分离、鉴定和生物学特性方面已获得新的成果。本文简述了目前哺乳动物SSCs主要的标记分子及自我更新与分化的调控机理,以期为该领域及其他干细胞研究提供一定的借鉴。     

干细胞研究的新途径:miRNAs

微小RNA(microRNAs,miRNAs)是一类内源性的非编码单链RNA,能够通过与靶mRNA特异性的碱基配对而导致靶mRNA降解或抑制其翻译,从而对基因进行转录后调控。干细胞的自我更新和多向分化过程依赖于广泛而多样的调控机制,miRNAs正是这些调控机制中非常重要的一类分子。研究发现,干细胞的自我更新功能需要多种miRNAs的参与来维持;干细胞的分化也是多种miRNAs参与调控的结果。miRNAs可以作为干细胞研究的一个新的切入点。     

胃癌干细胞研究进展

胃癌是仅次于肺癌的第二大致死率癌症,尽管近年来对胃癌研究有了很大进展,但由于缺乏良好的动物模型,对胃癌的发病机理仍然不是很清楚.近年的研究表明,肿瘤组织不是由均一细胞构成的,其中存在一些少量细胞可以自我更新并可以分化为肿瘤组织的其他细胞,这类细胞具有类似成体组织干细胞（tissue stem cells）的特性称之为肿瘤干细胞（cancer stem cells）.肿瘤干细胞被认为在肿瘤的生长、转移、复发中发挥着重要作用.有证据表明在胃癌组织中存在胃癌干细胞（gastric cancer stem cells）,但是对胃癌干细胞的来源仍然不是十分明确.对肿瘤干细胞的研究有助于癌症的治疗,改变目前药物针对所有癌细胞的治疗策略.     

Persistence of CD34 Stem Marker in Human Lipoma: Searching for Cancer Stem Cells

Background: Lipomas are benign solid tumours that develop in soft tissues with origin in mesenchymal progenitors. Macroscopically, they appear as soft-elastic nodules, varying in volume from a few millimiters to several centimetres and can enlarge progressively. Although they are usually asymptomatic, they can cause symptoms due to nerve or vessel compression. Microscopically they appear as fibrous connective tissue stroma with embedded adipocytes, and absence of inflammation. Up to now no characterisation of stem cell population present in this tissue has been performed.Methods: Cytofluorimetric, biological and molecular biology analyses have been performed in order to test superficial cell markers and gene expression profile related to stemness and apoptotic activity of cells present in lipoma tissues compared to those of adipose tissue''s cells.Results: Our results confirmed that CD34⁺ cells in lipoma were present around small adipocytes, showing several altered biological activity such as proliferation, apoptotis and stemness.Conclusions: The data emerging from the comparison of the lipoma cells and normal adipose tissue, suggests the presence of cell precursors involved in the development of the lipoma. This hypothesis requires further investigation and may indicate new thresholds in the study of benign tumour pathogenesis.     

Isolation of Stem Cells from Human Pancreatic Cancer Xenografts

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been identified in a growing number of malignancies and are functionally defined by their ability to undergo self-renewal and produce differentiated progeny¹. These properties allow CSCs to recapitulate the original tumor when injected into immunocompromised mice. CSCs within an epithelial malignancy were first described in breast cancer and found to display specific cell surface antigen expression (CD44⁺CD24^low/-)². Since then, CSCs have been identified in an increasing number of other human malignancies using CD44 and CD24 as well as a number of other surface antigens. Physiologic properties, including aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity, have also been used to isolate CSCs from malignant tissues^3-5.Recently, we and others identified CSCs from pancreatic adenocarcinoma based on ALDH activity and the expression of the cell surface antigens CD44 and CD24, and CD133^6-8. These highly tumorigenic populations may or may not be overlapping and display other functions. We found that ALDH⁺ and CD44⁺CD24⁺ pancreatic CSCs are similarly tumorigenic, but ALDH⁺ cells are relatively more invasive⁸. In this protocol we describe a method to isolate viable pancreatic CSCs from low-passage human xenografts⁹. Xenografted tumors are harvested from mice and made into a single-cell suspension. Tissue debris and dead cells are separated from live cells and then stained using antibodies against CD44 and CD24 and using the ALDEFLUOR reagent, a fluorescent substrate of ALDH¹⁰. CSCs are then isolated by fluorescence activated cell sorting. Isolated CSCs can then be used for analytical or functional assays requiring viable cells.     

雷公藤甲素诱导胰腺癌细胞凋亡

目的：观察雷公藤甲素对胰腺癌细胞BxPC-3和PANC-1生长抑制及诱导细胞凋亡作用,探讨雷公藤甲素抗胰腺癌的机制。方法：雷公藤甲素处理BxPC-3和PANC—1细胞后,用M1rr法检测细胞的生长抑制,用流式细胞术检测细胞的凋亡率,用罗丹明123和DCFH—DA染色方法测定细胞线粒体膜跨膜电位变化和活性氧（ROS）的产生,用Western印迹检测Bcl-2、Bax蛋白表达的变化。结果：雷公藤甲素对胰腺癌细胞BxPC-3和PANC—1具有生长抑制和诱导细胞凋亡的作用,且呈时间和剂量依赖关系;处理72h后,胰腺癌细胞线粒体跨膜电位明显下降,Bax表达上调,Bcl-2表达下降。结论：雷公藤甲素能有效抑制胰腺癌细胞增殖,通过增强线粒体通透性诱导细胞凋亡。     

人肿瘤干细胞异种移植模型进展

人肿瘤干细胞（human cancer stem cells,CSCs）分离后异种移植至模型内的成瘤特性,为研究肿瘤病因学和制订抗癌策略提供了新的手段和方法。但是,目前人肿瘤干细胞的鉴别离不开移植至异种免疫缺陷鼠内建立肿瘤干细胞的动物模型。本文主要从CSCs的概念、CSCs与肿瘤的关系、CSCs异种移植模型研究进展、模型建立的影响因素、模型建立存在的问题等进行简要综述,为异种移植模型的建立提供参考。     

应用蛋白质组学的方法筛选胰腺干细胞标记物

探索利用蛋白质组学的方法筛选胰腺干细胞的标记物.通过大鼠胰腺大部分切除(Px)的方法建立胰腺增生模型,采用双向电泳(2DE)分离比较Px术后第3天大鼠增生胰腺组织与假手术(Sx)非增生胰腺组织蛋白质的表达谱差异,用基质辅助激光解吸离子化飞行时间质谱(MALDI-TOF-MS)和肽质量指纹图谱(PMF)的方法对差异蛋白进行鉴定,进一步经生物信息学检索,筛选与胚胎发育和细胞分化相关的蛋白质分子.蛋白质印迹分析蛋白质HSP47、Vimentin在Px大鼠胰腺组织中的表达,以验证2DE的结果.2DE显示Sx和Px大鼠胰腺组织平均蛋白质点数分别为(1369±31)和(1315±28)个,其中共有91个蛋白质点出现1.5倍以上的表达差异.所有差异蛋白质点PMF鉴定出53种蛋白质,其中Vimentin,cytokeratin8(CK8),lymphocytecytosolicprotein1(L-plastin),heterogeneousnuclearribonucleoproteinA2/B1(hnRNPA2/B1)和L-arginine:glycineamidinotransferase(AGAT)与胚胎发育和细胞分化有关,这些蛋白质可能是胰腺干细胞潜在的候选标记物.总之,蛋白质组学的方法利用其高通量的特点能有效发现潜在的胰腺干细胞生物学标记物.     

Enrichment for Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells from Human Cell Lines

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as a subset of slow cycling and undifferentiated cells that divide asymmetrically to generate highly proliferative, invasive, and chemoresistant tumor cells. Therefore, CSCs are an attractive population of cells to target therapeutically. CSCs are predicted to contribute to a number of types of malignancies including those in the blood, brain, lung, gastrointestinal tract, prostate, and ovary. Isolating and enriching a tumor cell population for CSCs will enable researchers to study the properties, genetics, and therapeutic response of CSCs. We generated a protocol that reproducibly enriches for ovarian cancer CSCs from ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and OVCA429). Cell lines are treated with 20 µM cisplatin for 3 days. Surviving cells are isolated and cultured in a serum-free stem cell media containing cytokines and growth factors. We demonstrate an enrichment of these purified CSCs by analyzing the isolated cells for known stem cell markers Oct4, Nanog, and Prom1 (CD133) and cell surface expression of CD177 and CD133. The CSCs exhibit increased chemoresistance. This method for isolation of CSCs is a useful tool for studying the role of CSCs in chemoresistance and tumor relapse.     

Human Pancreatic Tumor Organoids Reveal Loss of Stem Cell Niche Factor Dependence during Disease Progression

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Studying Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cell Characteristics for Developing New Treatment Strategies

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) contains a subset of exclusively tumorigenic cancer stem cells (CSCs) which have been shown to drive tumor initiation, metastasis and resistance to radio- and chemotherapy. Here we describe a specific methodology for culturing primary human pancreatic CSCs as tumor spheres in anchorage-independent conditions. Cells are grown in serum-free, non-adherent conditions in order to enrich for CSCs while their more differentiated progenies do not survive and proliferate during the initial phase following seeding of single cells. This assay can be used to estimate the percentage of CSCs present in a population of tumor cells. Both size (which can range from 35 to 250 micrometers) and number of tumor spheres formed represents CSC activity harbored in either bulk populations of cultured cancer cells or freshly harvested and digested tumors ^1,2. Using this assay, we recently found that metformin selectively ablates pancreatic CSCs; a finding that was subsequently further corroborated by demonstrating diminished expression of pluripotency-associated genes/surface markers and reduced in vivo tumorigenicity of metformin-treated cells. As the final step for preclinical development we treated mice bearing established tumors with metformin and found significantly prolonged survival. Clinical studies testing the use of metformin in patients with PDAC are currently underway (e.g., {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT01210911","term_id":"NCT01210911"}}NCT01210911, {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT01167738","term_id":"NCT01167738"}}NCT01167738, and {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT01488552","term_id":"NCT01488552"}}NCT01488552). Mechanistically, we found that metformin induces a fatal energy crisis in CSCs by enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and reducing mitochondrial transmembrane potential. In contrast, non-CSCs were not eliminated by metformin treatment, but rather underwent reversible cell cycle arrest. Therefore, our study serves as a successful example for the potential of in vitro sphere formation as a screening tool to identify compounds that potentially target CSCs, but this technique will require further in vitro and in vivo validation to eliminate false discoveries.     

综述: 肿瘤干细胞微环境与靶向干预策略

肿瘤干细胞具有自我更新和可塑性的潜能,能够维持肿瘤生长和异质性的能力．肿瘤干细胞是肿瘤产生、转移、耐药和复发的根源,肿瘤干细胞学说逐渐被肿瘤研究者所接受,因此,对肿瘤干细胞的深入理解有重大的科学和临床意义．肿瘤干细胞的微环境是肿瘤微环境的组成部分,包括细胞-细胞接触、分泌型因子等．肿瘤非干细胞和肿瘤干细胞本身都可以作为肿瘤干细胞的微环境．肿瘤干细胞的微环境可以维持肿瘤干细胞的可塑性,保护肿瘤干细胞免受免疫系统攻击,也可以促进其转移．肿瘤干细胞对其微环境的塑造、肿瘤干细胞的微环境对肿瘤干细胞自我更新的影响,以及针对肿瘤干细胞微环境的靶向干预等问题,已成为肿瘤干细胞研究的前沿问题．本文就肿瘤干细胞的发现、自我更新维持机制、肿瘤干细胞的微环境,及其肿瘤干细胞及微环境的干预策略等研究进展进行了综述．