title: Knockdown of Oct4 and Nanog expression inhibits the stemness of pancreatic cancer cells.
abstract: Pancreatic cancer is notorious for its difficult diagnosis at early stage and poor recurrence-free prognosis. This study aimed to investigate the possible involvement of Oct4 and Nanog in pancreatic cancer. The high expressions of Oct4 and Nanog in human pancreatic cancer tissues were found to indicate a worse prognostic value of patients. The pancreatic cancer stem cells (PCSCs) that isolated from PANC-1 cell line by flow cytometry exhibited high expressions of Oct4 and Nanog. To investigate whether Oct4 and Nanog play crucial role in maintaining the stemness of PCSCs, double knockdown of Oct4 and Nanog demonstrated that Oct4 and Nanog significantly reduced proliferation, migration, invasion, chemoresistance, and tumorigenesis of PCSCs in vitro and in vivo. The altered expression of the genes related to pancreatic carcinogenesis, metastasis, drug resistance and epithelial-mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT) might affect the biological characteristics of PCSCs. Our results suggest that Oct4 and Nanog may serve as a potential marker of prognosis and a novel target of therapy for pancreatic cancer.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Comprehensive Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province 226001, PR China; Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province 226001, PR China; Visitor Scholar of Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA.
authors.forename: Yuhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xiangjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Shajun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qingsong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Mingyan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D000071317:Nanog Homeobox Protein; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D034622:RNA Interference; D047368:Tumor Burden; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C486780:NANOG protein, human; D000071317:Nanog Homeobox Protein; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000093542:Gemcitabine
keywords: Cancer stem cells; Nanog; Oct4; Pancreatic cancer