1. Academic Validation
  2. Stearoyl-CoA-desaturase-1 regulates gastric cancer stem-like properties and promotes tumour metastasis via Hippo/YAP pathway

Stearoyl-CoA-desaturase-1 regulates gastric cancer stem-like properties and promotes tumour metastasis via Hippo/YAP pathway

  • Br J Cancer. 2020 Jun;122(12):1837-1847. doi: 10.1038/s41416-020-0827-5.
Yunhe Gao  # 1 Jiyang Li  # 1 Hongqing Xi  # 1 Jianxin Cui 1 Kecheng Zhang 1 Jiabing Zhang 2 Yanmei Zhang 3 Wei Xu 3 Wenquan Liang 1 Ziwei Zhuang 1 Pengpeng Wang 1 Zhi Qiao 1 Bo Wei 4 Lin Chen 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of General Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
  • 2 Medical School of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
  • 3 School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
  • 4 Department of General Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China. weibo@vip.163.com.
  • 5 Department of General Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China. chenlinbj@sina.com.
  • # Contributed equally.
Abstract

Background: Stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) is reported to play essential roles in Cancer stemness among several cancers. Our previous research revealed significant overexpression of SCD1 in primary gastric Cancer Stem Cells (GCSCs), with its functional role still unknown.

Methods: We stably established three primary GCSCs by sphere-forming assays and flow cytometry. Protein quantification and bioinformatics analysis were performed to reveal the differential protein pattern. Lentivirus-based small-interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown and pharmacological inhibition approaches were used to characterise the function and molecular mechanism role of SCD1 in the regulation of GC stemness and tumour metastasis capacity both in vitro and in vivo.

Results: SCD1 was found to increase the population of GCSCs, whereas its suppression by an SCD1 inhibitor or knockdown by siRNA attenuated the stemness of GCSCs, including chemotherapy resistance and sphere-forming ability. Furthermore, SCD1 suppression reversed epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and reduced the GC metastasis probability both in vitro and in vivo. Downregulation of SCD1 in GCSCs was associated with the expression of Yes-associated protein (YAP), a key protein in the Hippo pathway, and nuclear YAP translocation was also blocked by the SCD1 decrease.

Conclusions: SCD1 promotes GCSC stemness through the Hippo/YAP pathway. Targeting SCD1 might be a novel therapeutic strategy, especially to suppress GC metastasis and sensitise chemotherapy.

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