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Stem cells

Tumour stem cells generate vasculature

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 11, page 4 (2011)Cite this article

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Both Wang et al. and Ricci-Vitiani et al. began by examining the angiogenic endothelium in glioblastoma tissue from patients, using a range of endothelial and glioblastoma markers. Both groups found that a proportion of the endothelial cells had the same genomic alterations as the tumour cells, indicating that they were of neoplastic origin.

Wang et al. focused on the CD133+ stem cell-like fraction of tumour cells and found a subset of cells expressing vascular endothelial cadherin (also known as CD144) that behaved like endothelial progenitors. These cells could mature into endothelial cells. Lineage analyses and single-cell clonal studies showed that a subpopulation of this CD133+ stem cell-like fraction is multipotent, differentiating into both tumour and endothelial cell types. Many of the cells from these fractionated populations also had the genomic aberrations seen in the parent tumour. Importantly, blocking vascular endothelial growth factor A pharmacologically with bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech/Roche) or using small hairpin RNAs did not inhibit the differentiationof CD133+ cells into endothelial cell types.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Wang, R. et al. Glioblastoma stem-cell like cells give rise to tumour endothelium. Nature 21 Nov 2010 (doi: 10.1038/nature09624)

  2. Ricci-Vitiani, L. et al. Tumour vascularization via endothelial differentiation of glioblastoma stem-like cells. Nature 21 Nov 2010 (doi: 10.1038/nature09557)

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Authors
  1. Ezzie Hutchinson
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Hutchinson, E. Tumour stem cells generate vasculature. Nat Rev Cancer 11, 4 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2989

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