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MCF7 Side Population (SP) cells with characteristics of cancer stem/progenitor cells express the tumor antigen MUC1
Author(s) -
Engelmann Katja,
Shen Hongmei,
Finn Olivera J
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.1079.2
Subject(s) - cancer stem cell , progenitor cell , muc1 , stem cell , cancer research , biology , cd44 , population , side population , immunology , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , medicine , genetics , environmental health
Cancer stem and progenitor cells, which are resistant to standard cancer therapy, are suspected to initiate tumor growth and cause tumor relapse. Our study aimed to characterize expression of MUC1 tumor antigen at various stages during tumor progression and to validate MUC1 as immunotherapy target on cancer stem/progenitor cells. We isolated a population of stem/progenitor cells, the so‐called Side Population (SP), from MCF7 cell line, assessed expression of proposed cancer stem cell markers and studied MUC1 expression and in vivo tumorigenicity. About 80% of MCF7 SP cells (7.5% ±1.19 SD) showed a CD44 + /CD24 −/low phenotype. Microarray analysis confirmed expression of stem/progenitor genes in SP cells; cell morphology and growth supported their stem/progenitor cell phenotype. For the first time we show expression of MUC1 on SP cells (77.8% ±6.9 SD) that was similar to that on mature tumor cells. The minor MUC1 − subpopulation accumulated MUC1 protein intracellularly. In vivo injected MUC1 + and MUC1 − MCF7 SP cells gave rise to MUC1 + tumors that maintained MUC1 + SP. We conclude that MUC1 is aberrantly expressed not only on mature cancer cells, but also on cancer stem/progenitor cells and suggest that epithelial cancer stem/progenitor cells could be targets of MUC1‐specific tumor immunotherapy. Support: Human Immunology Grant Irvington Institute/Dana Foundation, NIH grants 5P01 CA73743‐07 and 2R01 CA56103‐13.