Comparison of functional glycans between cancer stem cells and normal stem cells
Norihiko Sasaki1, Yoko Itakura1, Fujiya Gomi2, Kazumi Hirano3, Masashi Toyoda1 and Toshiyuki Ishiwata2
1Research Team for Geriatric Medicine (Vascular Medicine), 2Division of Aging and Carcinogenesis, Research Team for Geriatric Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo and 3Molecular Neurophysiology Research Group, Biomedical Research Institute, The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki, Japan
Offprint requests to: Norihiko Sasaki, Research Team for Geriatric Medicine (Vascular Medicine), Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan. e-mail: sasanori@tmig.or.jp or Toshiyuki Ishiwata, Division of Aging and Carcinogenesis, Research Team for Geriatric Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan. e-mail: tishiwat@tmig.or.jp
Summary. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small group of cells within a tumor that preserve stemness and enhance regrowth of cancer cells. CSCs have important implications in resistance to conventional therapies and tumor relapse, although their detailed properties remain unknown. Thus, CSCs represent promising targets to improve cancer treatment. So far, a number of cell surface markers containing glycans have been exploited to identify and isolate CSCs. Cell surface glycans are well-known markers for specific cell types and also play important cellular roles, such as regulation of cell signaling. In normal stem cells, including embryonic and tissue stem cells, glycan markers in an undifferentiated state have been identified. These markers are mostly known to regulate signaling pathways required for maintenance of stemness. In contrast, CSC-specific glycans have not been well characterized yet. In this review, we summarize functional commonalities between CSCs and normal stem cells in glycan-mediated signaling pathways. Identification of CSC-specific glycans may lead to early diagnosis and radical treatment of cancer. Histol Histopathol 34, 995-1007 (2019)
Key words: Cancer stem cell, Pluripotent stem cell, Tissue stem cell, Signaling pathway, Glycans
DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-119