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Comment
. 2009 Sep;1(6-7):300-2.
doi: 10.1002/emmm.200900042.

Hedgehog signalling in colon cancer and stem cells

Alberto Gulino  1 , Elisabetta Ferretti, Enrico De Smaele
Affiliations
Comment

Hedgehog signalling in colon cancer and stem cells

Alberto Gulino et al. EMBO Mol Med. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

The participation of the HH pathway in colon cancer has remained controversial. In this issue, Varnat et al (2009) demonstrate that HH signalling is essential for human colon cancer growth, recurrence, metastases and stem cell expansion. This closeup by Gulino et al discusses the paper and its implications.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The fate of intestinal stem cells in colon differentiation and cancer

  1. Stem cells reside at the bottom of the intestinal crypt (on the left), just above or intermingled with the Paneth cells, where they divide asymmetrically and give rise to a new stem cell and an epithelial progenitor (early progenitor) which will in turn generate the various differentiated cell types of the mature colon epithelium (on the right).

  2. HH in colon cancer: CSCs exhibit active HH-GLI signalling, which is also present in the bulk tumour. HH-GLI signalling further increases in metastatic cells and such an increase correlates with the number of CSCs present in the tumour mass.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Mouse models and mouse supermodels.
    Curran T. Curran T. EMBO Mol Med. 2010 Oct;2(10):385-6; author reply 386-7. doi: 10.1002/emmm.201000090. EMBO Mol Med. 2010. PMID: 20721989 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Comment on

References

    1. Humphries A, Wright NA. Colonic crypt organization and tumorigenesis. Nat Rev Cancer. 2008;8:415–424. - PubMed
    1. Ricci-Vitiani L, Pagliuca A, Palio E, Zeuner A, De Maria R. Colon cancer stem cells. Gut. 2008;57:538–548. - PubMed
    1. Theunissen JW, de Sauvage FJ. Paracrine Hedgehog signaling in cancer. Cancer Res. 2009;69:6007–6010. - PubMed
    1. Varnat F, Duquet A, Malerba M, Zbinden M, Mas C, Gervaz P, Ruiz i Altaba A. Human colon cancer epithelial cells harbour active HEDGEHOG-GLI signalling that is essential for tumour growth, recurrence, metastasis and stem cell survival and expansion. Embo Mol Med. 2009;1 DOI: . - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Varjosalo M, Taipale J. Hedgehog: functions and mechanisms. Genes Dev. 2008;22:2454–2472. - PubMed

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