title: Promotion of the self-renewal capacity of human leukemia cells by sonic hedgehog protein.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is involved in cancer cell growth. However, the effects of Hh stimulation on leukemia cells are unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  The effects of recombinant sonic Hedgehog (Shh) protein on the in vitro growth of one B-lymphoma and four myeloid leukemia cell lines were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Shh stimulation had no significant effect on the short-term growth of whole cell populations in any of the five cell lines. However, Shh promoted clonogenic cell recovery after suspension culture, suggesting promotion of leukemia stem or progenitor cell amplification in three cell lines. The lack of Hh receptors in one cell line and endogenous Shh expression in another were possible reasons for the lack of effects of Shh in these cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that Shh stimulation promotes the self-renewal capacity of leukemia stem cells in some cell lines. Inhibition of Hh signaling could represent a novel therapeutic approach in leukemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yushima 1-5-45, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi-Ihara
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okuhashi
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Murohashi
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nara
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tohda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D002999:Clone Cells; D015973:Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic / Q000187:drug effects; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay
chemical_list: D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; C465570:Shh protein, mouse