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Pancreatic cancer stem cells: features and detection methods

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  • Published:
Pathology & Oncology Research

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive malignancy with a high incidence of distant metastasis and recurrence. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are pluripotent, self-renewable, and capable of forming tumors, contribute to PDAC initiation and metastasis and are responsible for resistance to chemotherapy and radiation. Three types of experimental methods are commonly used to identify CSCs: CSC-specific marker detection, a sphere-formation assay that reveals cell proliferation under non-adherent conditions, and detection of side-population (SP) cells that possess high intracellular-to-extracellular pump functions. Several CSC-specific markers have been reported in PDACs, including CD133, CD24, CD44, CXCR4, EpCAM, ABCG2, c-Met, ALDH-1, and nestin. There remains controversy regarding which markers are specific to PDAC CSCs and which are expressed alone or in combination in CSCs. Examining characteristics of isolated CSCs and discovering CSC-specific treatment options are important to improve the prognosis of PDAC cases. This review summarizes CSC-detection methods for PDAC, including CSC-marker detection, the sphere-formation assay, and detection of SP cells.

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Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation to Drs. Seiichi Shinji, Kazuya Yamahatsu, Akira Matsushita, and Yoshiharu Nakamura (Department of Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Nippon Medical School) for their helpful discussions and technical assistance. We thank Ms. Sanae Furusho, Shoko Wada, and Atsumi Ozaki, and Mr. Hiroyuki Sugihara (Jasco International Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) for their technical assistance with scanning electron microscopy. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant No. JP16K10613 to T.I.) Animal experiments were conducted according to the institutional animal care guidelines of the Nippon Medical School Animal Ethics Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Aging and Carcinogenesis, Research Team for Geriatric Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

    Toshiyuki Ishiwata, Naoshi Ishikawa, Kaiyo Takubo & Junko Aida

  2. Department of Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

    Yoko Matsuda & Tomio Arai

  3. Department of Applied Science, School of Veterinary Nursing and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Tokyo, 180-0022, Japan

    Hisashi Yoshimura

  4. Research Team for Geriatric Medicine (Vascular Medicine), Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

    Norihiko Sasaki

  5. Division of Medical Pharmaceutics & Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kindai University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashi-Osaka, Osaka, 577-8502, Japan

    Shunji Ishiwata

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  1. Toshiyuki Ishiwata
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  2. Yoko Matsuda
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Correspondence to Toshiyuki Ishiwata.

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Ishiwata, T., Matsuda, Y., Yoshimura, H. et al. Pancreatic cancer stem cells: features and detection methods. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 24, 797–805 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-018-0420-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-018-0420-x

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