Identified key mechanisms in the biology of cancer stem cells
30/09/11 09:14 Filed in: News
Although many ABC transporters have been identified as drug
resistance proteins, they may play an additional role regulating
the traffic of endogenous or other physiological substrates.
Particularly, ABCB1 and ABCG2 transporters are highly conserved in
normal stem cells, and may shield the stem compartment from the
action of a series of ligands involved in signal transduction. Now,
we have identified how the highly conserved Sonic Hedgehog (Hh)
pathway can be modulated through the activity of ABCG2 in SP cells
with stem-like properties. This upstream regulation of Hh signaling
intermediate levels might preserve the stemness of the SP
compartment.
Cytometry Part A, 2011