RE:CSCs and VM - 2011 paper shows they are likely connectedIf you want something more updated, here's a 2019 article that took those findings and applied it just to TNBC. They found the same thing and reached the same conclusion --
"...
In conclusion, CSCs lined VM channels directly. Additionally, CSCs provide more VM-related molecules to synergize VM formation. The signaling pathways that control CSC differentiation may also be potential therapeutic targets for TNBC." THTX, and the whole sortilin platform, may just be the first and best hope for tackling this CSC-VM relationship in cancers. If so, it's going to be very powerful....and very valuable.
(Just a note, odd how it's Chinese Univ that are doing all this CSC/VM work. Perhaps they will understand the science over there and value it a whole lot more than N.Am is at this point!)
Cancer stem-like cells directly participate in vasculogenic mimicry channels in triple-negative breast cancer https://www.cancerbiomed.org/content/16/2/299
Wino115 wrote: I think this axis of CSCs and VM is of critical importance and the fact TH1902 has, in the lab, shown to both disrupt VM (recall the "loop" slides showing a vastly different picture after TH1902) and the survival and proliferation of cancer stem cells is a very positive conclusion they published. It really could be one of the key attributes that sets the platform apart from competitors.
It could be we have the ability to deliver a large toxin dose, safely into the tumor cell AND to disrupt both VM and CSCs from doing their thing. How this is done, they will look to find out and no one really knows at this point except that we see the derived pre-clinical results --much lower metastices, far fewer VM loops, and the CSC markers like CD133 being negatively affected.
In 2011, these researchers started to put the pieces together and suggested it was an area to focus new therapies on. This article reviewed a number of individual conclusions to portray a fuller picture of what could be happening based on the previous findings. This was a decade ago, and the science is all still very new. Here's their conclusion and the article:
"VM-TARGETED THERAPEUTIC STRATEGY: NEW PERSPECTIVES
CSCs are considered as the root of tumor initiation, metastasis, and reoccurrence. If CSCs are proven to be critical for VM formation, there will be significant implications in the design of novel anti-tumor therapies. As discussed earlier, VM is the dominant blood supply pattern in the early stage of tumor formation and CSCs are capable of differentiating/transdifferentiating and lining up to form branching lumens and tubes, a process resembling the formation of VM. ....... Furthermore, the unique structure of VM channels, in which tumor cells line up the inner surface, directly exposes tumor cells to blood vessel and facilitates the metastasis of tumor cells. VM frequently is seen in the regions between the tumor and surrounding normal tissues, and associated with poor prognosis in clinical patients. Therefore, VM-targeted therapies may destroy the niche that maintains CSCs, block the metastasis passage of tumor cells, and reduce the recurrence of cancer."
Contribution of cancer stem cells to tumor vasculogenic mimicry
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21533771/