GSK-3α/β and MEK inhibitors assist the microenvironment of tumor initiation.

ABSTRACT: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are useful tools for modeling diseases and developing personalized medicine. We have been developing cancer stem cells (CSCs) from iPSCs with conditioned medium (CM) of cancer-derived cells as the mimicry of the microenvironment of tumor initiation. However, the conversion of human iPSCs has not always been efficient with only CM. In this study, human iPSCs reprogrammed from monocytes of healthy volunteers were cultured in a media containing 50% of the CM from human pancreatic cancer derived BxPC3 cells supplemented with a MEK inhibitor (AZD6244) and a GSK-3α/β inhibitor (CHIR99021). The survived cells were assessed for the characteristics of CSCs in vitro and in vivo. As a result, they exhibited CSC phenotypes of self-renewal, differentiation, and ma

SUBMITTER: Hassan G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10167063 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature