Treatment of ovarian cancer by targeting the tumor stem cell-associated carbohydrate antigen, Sialyl-Thomsen-nouveau.

ABSTRACT: Recurrent ovarian cancer (OvCa) is thought to result in part from the inability to eliminate rare quiescent cancer stem cells (CSCs) that survive cytotoxic chemotherapy and drive tumor resurgence. The Sialyl-Thomsen-nouveau antigen (STn) is a carbohydrate moiety present on protein markers of CSCs in pancreatic, colon, and gastric malignancies. We have demonstrated that human OvCa cell lines contain varying levels of cells that independently express either STn or the ovarian CSC marker CD133. Here we determine co-expression of STn and CD133 in a subset of human OvCa cell lines. Analyses of colony and sphere forming capacity and of response to standard-of-care cytotoxic therapy suggest a subset of OvCa STn⁺ cells display some CSC features. The effect of the anti-STn antibody-drug

SUBMITTER: Starbuck K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5955411 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature