Abstract 924: Dedifferentiation into polyploid blastomere-like cancer stem cells via formation of polyploid giant cancer cells

Abstract

We have recently shown that polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) are capable of tumor initiation and acquisition of embryonic-like stemness and thus represent a novel type of cancer stem cells. However, two important questions remain to be answered from this surprising finding: (1) how PGCCs acquire such stemness; (2) on which stage of normal development PGCCs correspond to. Here, we tracked the fate of single PGCCs induced via mitotic failure by paclitaxel. Morphologically, early spheroids derived from PGCCs were indistinguishable from human embryos at the polyploid blastomere, compaction, morula, and blastocyst-like stages by scanning electron microscopy. PGCCs showed time- and space-dependent activation of expression of the embryonic stem cell markers OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, and SSEA-1 and lacked expression of Xist. PGCCs also showed time-dependent activation of expression of the germ layer-specific markers alpha-fetoprotein, smooth muscle actin, and β3-tubulin and were capable of redifferentiation into three germ layers in vitro. PGCCs-derived daughter cells showed attenuated invasive ability and increased resistance to paclitaxel. PGCCs-derived spheroids grew into a wide spectrum of human neoplasms, including malignant dysgerminoma and embryonic carcinoma, poorly differentiated or well-differentiated carcinomas, and benign squamous tissue. We also observed PGCCs in ovarian cancer from patients treated with chemotherapy. Thus, our data demonstrated that PGCCs acquired novel cancer stem cell properties and capability to redifferentiate into different tumors including the germ cell tumors, which are at the topmost developmental hierarchy. Our studies, for the first time, link PGCCs to the polyploid blastomere-like cancer stem cells and thus offer a new paradigm for the origin of cancer.

Citation Format: Na Niu, Jinsong Liu. Dedifferentiation into polyploid blastomere-like cancer stem cells via formation of polyploid giant cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 924. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-924