Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesAnimal StudyEurope PMCOpen access

JNK pathway inhibition selectively primes pancreatic cancer stem cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis without affecting the physiology of normal tissue resident stem cells

Recio-Boiles A., Ilmer M., Rhea PR., Kettlun C., Heinemann ML., Ruetering J.

Animal Study, published in Oncotarget (2016) — summary generated from the PubMed abstract.

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Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesEvidence level of this study

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

  • Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
  • Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
  • Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
  • Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
  • Emerging · Emerging topic under active research
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This page is generated from the PubMed record. The Thai description is an automated summary of bibliographic fields and the abstract, not a full translation, and is not medical advice.

Study type
Animal Study
Journal
Oncotarget (2016)
Reported sample size
—
Source database
Europe PMC
PMID
26840266
PMCID
PMC4891091
DOI
10.18632/oncotarget.7066
Citations
26

Abstract (original English)

Objective Successful treatment of solid cancers mandates targeting cancer stem cells (CSC) without impact on the physiology of normal tissue resident stem cells. C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling has been shown to be of importance in cancer. We test whether JNK inhibition would sensitize pancreatic CSCs to induction of apoptosis via low-dose TNFα-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). Design Effects of JNK inhibition (JNKi) were evaluated in vitro in functional assays, through mRNA and protein expression analysis, and in in vivo mouse studies. CSCs were enriched in anoikis-resistant spheroid culture and analyzed accordingly. Results We confirmed that the JNK pathway is an important regulatory pathway in pancreatic cancer stem cells and further found that JNK inhibition downregulates the decoy receptor DcR1 through IL-8 signaling while upregulating pro-apoptotic death receptors DR4/5, thereby sensitizing cells - even with acquired TRAIL-resistance - to apoptosis induction. Treatment of orthotopic pancreatic cancer xenografts with either gemcitabine, JNKi or TRAIL alone for 4 weeks showed only modest effects compared to control, while the combination of JNKi and TRAIL resulted in significantly lower tumor burden (69%; p Conclusions The combination of JNKi and TRAIL significantly impacts on CSCs, but leaves regular tissue-resident stem cells unaffected - even under hypox

What this study does not prove

  • • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
  • • This is preclinical work; animal or laboratory results cannot be applied to humans.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

How we grade evidence
Cells, CulturedCell Line, TumorStem CellsAnimalsHumansMice, NudeAdenocarcinomaCarcinoma, Pancreatic DuctalPancreatic NeoplasmsAnthracenes

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