Abstract
Abstract The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis proposes that CSCs are the root of cancer and cause cancer metastasis and recurrence. High activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) has been recognized as a marker for normal and malignant stem cells. It has been also known that ALDH activity is important for multiple biological activities including drug resistance, cell differentiation, and oxidative metabolism. In this study, we focused on the molecular mechanism of ALDH activity in CSC dynamics. To address the underlying mechanism, we have used the 4T1 mouse model of breast cancer. We found that ALDHpos cells showed a high increase of the stem cell-like properties, such as sphere forming ability, expression of stem markers, and tumor initiation ability in vivo, when compared with the counterparts. Blockade of ALDH activity suppressed these properties of CSC. Especially, the high activity of ALDH was shown to enhance CSC properties through up-regulating Oct-4 expression that is dependent on oxygen-related transcription factor. Therefore, these findings suggest that the selective targeting of ALDH activity may be useful for stem specific cancer therapies. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3360.
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