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BMC Cancer
Published in: BMC Cancer 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

CD133+ liver cancer stem cells resist interferon-gamma-induced autophagy

Authors: Jian Li, Jin-Na Chen, Ting-Ting Zeng, Fan He, Shu-Peng Chen, Stephanie Ma, Jiong Bi, Xiao-Feng Zhu, Xin-Yuan Guan

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most fatal malignancies worldwide, and CD133 is a popular cancer stem cell (CSC) marker for HCC. CD133+ CSCs have been reported to resist conventional chemo- and radiotherapy, but little is known about their response to immune surveillance. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is one of key cytokines that the immune system produce to eradicate cancer cells, so we investigated the function of IFN-γ on CD133+ HCC CSCs in this study.

Methods

The response of CD133+ cells to IFN-γ was performed with functional assays (cell proliferation assay and tumor formation in nude mice), flow cytometry, immunofluorescence staining and RNA interference.

Results

We found that IFN-γ inhibited the proliferation of cell lines with low percentage of CD133+ cells (wild-type human cells, BEL7402, QGY7701) but it did not affect the proliferation of cell lines with high percentage of CD133+ cells (wild-type human cells, Huh7, PLC8024) in vivo and in vitro (nude mice). Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that the percentage of CD133+ cells increased after IFN-γ treatment of low CD133+ cell lines. Furthermore, IFN-γ induced the autophagy of low CD133+ cell lines to decrease proliferation.

Conclusion

CD133+ HCC CSCs resisted IFN-γ-induced autophagy, which might also be a mechanism through which CSCs resist immune eradication.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
CD133+ liver cancer stem cells resist interferon-gamma-induced autophagy
Authors
Jian Li
Jin-Na Chen
Ting-Ting Zeng
Fan He
Shu-Peng Chen
Stephanie Ma
Jiong Bi
Xiao-Feng Zhu
Xin-Yuan Guan
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-016-2050-6

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