Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests that tumors are hierarchically organized with a distinct subpopulation called cancer stem cells (CSCs) lying at the apex of the hierarchy. These cells are not only responsible for tumor initiation and progression but also endowed with stem cell properties, including self-renewal, chemoresistance, and tumor initiation. Although existing therapies can initially eliminate the bulk population of tumor, the stem cell properties of CSCs enable them to survive and repopulate the tumor, resulting in disease relapse. Recently, our group has shown that progranulin (PGRN/GEP) defined a hepatic cancer stem cell subpopulation in hepatocellular carcinoma. This subpopulation demonstrated enhanced ability for colony and spheroid formation, chemoresistance, and tumor initiation. In this chapter, we describe the methods used to isolate the progranulin+ subpopulation and analyze their CSC properties.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported in part by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (GRF 764111, 764112, and T12-401/13-R), Health and Medical Research Fund (01121566).
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Cheung, P.F.Y., Cheung, S.T. (2018). Methods to Analyze the Role of Progranulin (PGRN/GEP) on Cancer Stem Cell Features. In: Bateman, A., Bennett, H., Cheung, S. (eds) Progranulin. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1806. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8559-3_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8559-3_11
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