PKCα Inhibition as a Strategy to Sensitize Neuroblastoma Stem Cells to Etoposide by Stimulating Ferroptosis.

ABSTRACT: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a limited cell population inside a tumor bulk characterized by high levels of glutathione (GSH), the most important antioxidant thiol of which cysteine is the limiting amino acid for GSH biosynthesis. In fact, CSCs over-express xCT, a cystine transporter stabilized on cell membrane through interaction with CD44, a stemness marker whose expression is modulated by protein kinase Cα (PKCα). Since many chemotherapeutic drugs, such as Etoposide, exert their cytotoxic action by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, the presence of high antioxidant defenses confers to CSCs a crucial role in chemoresistance. In this study, Etoposide-sensitive and -resistant neuroblastoma CSCs were chronically treated with Etoposide, given alone or in combination with Sul

SUBMITTER: Monteleone L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8145544 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature