Exosomes from BM-MSCs increase the population of CSCs via transfer of miR-142-3p. Issue 6 (11th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Hongdan; Li, Feng
• Is Part Of: British journal of cancer. Volume 119:Issue 6(2018)
• Page Start: 744
• Page End: 755
• Publication Date: 2018-09-11
• Subjects: Cancer -- Periodicals; Cancer -- Research -- Periodicals; Tumors -- Periodicals; 616.994
• DOI: 10.1038/s41416-018-0254-z
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-0920

Abstract

Abstract Background Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (BM-MSCs) are progenitor cells shown to migrate to the tumour and participate in the tumour microenvironment. BM-MSCs play important roles in tumour processes through the release of cytokines or exosomes; however, how BM-MSCs influence the stemness of CSCs in colon cancer cells remains poorly understood. Methods We isolated exosomes from BM-MSCs and used these exosomes to treat colon cancer cells (HCT-116, HT-29 and SW-480). We compared stemness traits of colon CSCs by cell surface marker (CD133 and Lgr5) and functional assays, such as chemoresistance, colony formation, cell adhesion, invasion and tumour-formation assay. We performed a microRNA array to investigate the differences in exosomal microRNA expression between colon cancer cells, BM-MSCs and co-cultured cells and performed functional and molecular analysis of the gene targets. Results In this study, we found that BM-MSC-derived exosomes contained distinct microRNAs, including miR-142-3p, which in turn increased the population of CSCs in colon cancer cells. Depriving miR-142-3p from BM-MSC-derived exosomes clearly decreased the population of colon CSCs. Mechanistically, Numb was found to be the target gene of miR-142-3p, and miR-142-3p promoted the Notch signalling pathway by downregulating Numb. Conclusions Our findings indicate that BM-MSC-derived exosomes promote colon cancer stem cell-like traits via miR-142-3p.