Galectin-1 is overexpressed in CD133+ human lung adenocarcinoma cells and promotes their growth and invasiveness.

Abstract

Previous studies demonstrated that a subpopulation of cancer cells, which are CD133 positive (CD133+) feature higher invasive and metastatic abilities, are called cancer stem cells (CSCs). By using tumor cells derived from patients with lung adenocarcinoma, we found that galectin-1 is highly overexpressed in the CD133+ cancer cells as compared to the normal cancer cells (CD133-) from the same patients. We overexpressed galectin-1 in CD133- cancer cells and downregulated it in CSCs. We found that overexpression of galectin-1 promoted invasiveness of CD133- cells, while knockdown of galectin-1 suppressed proliferation, colony formation and invasiveness of CSCs. Furthermore, tumor growth was significantly inhibited in CSCs xenografts with knockdown of galectin-1 as compared to CSCs treated with scramble siRNAs. Biochemical studies revealed that galectin-1 knockdown led to the suppression of COX-2/PGE2 and AKT/mTOR pathways, indicating galectin-1 might control the phenotypes of CSCs by regulating these signaling pathways. Finally, a retrospective study revealed that galectin-1 levels in blood circulation negatively correlates with overall survival and positively correlates with lymph node metastasis of the patients. Taken together, these findings suggested that galectin-1 plays a major role on the tumorigenesis and invasiveness of CD133+ cancer cells and might serve as a potential therapeutic target for treatment of human patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

• Authors: Xuefeng Zhou, Dan Li, Xianguo Wang, Bo Zhang, Hua Zhu, Jinping Zhao
• Journal: Oncotarget (Oncotarget) Vol. 6 Issue 5 Pg. 3111-22 (Feb 20 2015) ISSN: 1949-2553 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25605013 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• AC133 Antigen
• Antigens, CD
• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Galectin 1
• Glycoproteins
• PROM1 protein, human
• Peptides
• Prom1 protein, mouse

Topics

• AC133 Antigen
• Adenocarcinoma (blood, genetics, metabolism, mortality, pathology)
• Adenocarcinoma of Lung
• Adult
• Aged
• Animals
• Antigens, CD (metabolism)
• Biomarkers, Tumor (blood, genetics, metabolism)
• Cell Movement
• Cell Proliferation
• Female
• Galectin 1 (blood, genetics, metabolism)
• Gene Knockdown Techniques
• Glycoproteins (metabolism)
• Humans
• Lung Neoplasms (blood, genetics, metabolism, mortality, pathology)
• Male
• Mice, SCID
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasm Invasiveness
• Neoplasm Transplantation
• Neoplastic Stem Cells (metabolism, pathology)
• Peptides (metabolism)
• RNA Interference
• Retrospective Studies
• Signal Transduction
• Time Factors
• Transfection
• Tumor Burden
• Tumor Cells, Cultured
• Up-Regulation