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A preliminary study of the role of extracellular -5′- nucleotidase in breast cancer stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition

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Abstract

Tumor stem cell theory may well explain a variety of malignant behaviors of tumors. Cells undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) share many characteristics with tumor stem cells. Our previous studies showed that extracellular -5'- nucleotidase (CD73), one of the important surface markers of mesenchymal stem cells, may promote growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro. In this study, we assessed breast cancer stem cell (BCSC) markers [acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)+ and CD44+CD24−] in various breast cancer cell lines with flow cytometry after overexpression (by lentivirus infection) or suppression (by siRNA interference) of CD73. We measured CD73 expression in breast cancer mammospheres with real-time PCR and western blots. Finally, we examined the expression of CD73 and EMT markers in different breast cancer cell lines, as well as in mammary cells (MCF10A) that underwent EMT induced by transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β). We found that CD73 positively correlated with ALDH+ or CD44+CD24− subsets of breast cancer cells. CD73 was expressed more in breast cancer mammospheres than in adherent cells. CD73 and mesenchymal marker expression was higher in breast cancer cells with more malignant features, while CD73 was lower in low malignant breast cancer cells with higher epithelial markers. Furthermore, CD73 expression increased during the process of TGF-β-induced EMT. Our results indicate that CD73 may play an important role in BCSCs.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (81172507). The authors thank Shuhui Sun and Guoping Zhang from institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, for their guide in flow cytometry. The authors thank Zhouluo Ou from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China and Xueqing Sun from Department Of Biochemistry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China, for their help in cells culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 138 Yixueyuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, People’s Republic of China

    Jiangang Yu, Xiaohong Liao, Luying Li, Lei Lv, Xiuling Zhi, Jerry Yu & Ping Zhou

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Jerry Yu

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  1. Jiangang Yu
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  2. Xiaohong Liao
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Correspondence to Ping Zhou.

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Editor: Tetsuji Okamoto

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Fund Project (81172507)

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Yu, J., Liao, X., Li, L. et al. A preliminary study of the role of extracellular -5′- nucleotidase in breast cancer stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 53, 132–140 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-016-0089-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-016-0089-y

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