Fusion with stem cell makes the hepatocellular carcinoma cells similar to liver tumor-initiating cells

Ran WANG, Shuxun CHEN, Changxian LI, Kevin Tak Pan NG, Chi-wing KONG, Jinping CHENG, Shuk Han CHENG, Ronald A. LI, Chung Mau LO, Kwan MAN, Dong SUN

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Cell fusion is a fast and highly efficient technique for cells to acquire new properties. The fusion of somatic cells with stem cells can reprogram somatic cells to a pluripotent state. Our research on the fusion of stem cells and cancer cells demonstrates that the fused cells can exhibit stemness and cancer cell-like characteristics. Thus, tumor-initiating cell-like cells are generated.
Methods: We employed laser-induced single-cell fusion technique to fuse the hepatocellular carcinoma cells and human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Real-time RT-PCR, flow cytometry and in vivo tumorigenicity assay were adopted to identify the gene expression difference.
Results: We successfully produced a fused cell line that coalesces the gene expression information of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and stem cells. Experimental results showed that the fused cells expressed cancer and stemness markers as well as exhibited increased resistance to drug treatment and enhanced tumorigenesis.
Conclusions: Fusion with stem cells transforms liver cancer cells into tumor initiating-like cells. Results indicate that fusion between cancer cell and stem cell may generate tumor initiating-like cells. Copyright © 2016 Wang et al.
Original languageEnglish
Article number56
JournalBMC Cancer
Volume16
Early online date04 Feb 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Citation

Wang, R., Chen, S., Li, C., Ng, K. T. P., Kong, C.-W., Cheng, J., . . . Sun, D. (2016). Fusion with stem cell makes the hepatocellular carcinoma cells similar to liver tumor-initiating cells. BMC Cancer, 16. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-016-2094-7

Keywords

  • Cell fusion
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma
  • Stem cell
  • Tumor-initiating cell

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