Abstract 4243: Iron control is a novel therapeutic target of cancer stem cells
Authors: Ninomiya Takayuki , Ohara Toshiaki , Kashima Hajime , Katsube Ryoichi , Noma Kazuhiro , Tomono Yasuko , Mizutani Akifumi , Kasai Tomonari , Seno Masaharu , Kuroda Shinji , Kishimoto Hiroyuki , Tazawa Hiroshi , Shirakawa Yasuhiro , Kagawa Shunsuke , Fujiwara Toshiyoshi 
Published: August 2015

Background: Iron overload is known to cause cancer in animal models. Several studies have shown that iron deprivation treatment has a strong anti-cancer effect. However, it is unclear whether iron deprivation treatment suppresses cancer stem cells or not. A cancer stem cell model, miPS-LLCcm, was recently epigenetically established from murine induced pluripotent stem cells (miPS cells) in Okayama University. In this model, the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the puromycin resistant gene were inserted into the 59-bp untranslated region of the Nanog gene of miPS cells. By this procedure, undifferentiated cancer progenitor cells are recognized as GFP positive cells. We then examined the iron dependency of these cancer stem cells both in in vitro and in vivo studies and we used this model to examine the possibility of cancer stem cells by iron deprivation.

Materials and Methods: In in vitro studies, the miPS-LLCcm cells were used as cancer stem cells and colon26 and 4T1 cells were used as differentiated murine cancer cells. Puromycin was used to purify the cancer stem cells before seeding of the miPS-LLCcm cells. The dependency on iron for cell proliferation was examined following transferrin addition. Transferrin (Holo) was used to simulate an iron rich condition. Iron free medium and the iron chelators, Deferasirox and Deferoxamine, plus 1% fetal bovine serum (FBS) were used to simulate iron depletion conditions. Cell proliferation assays and flow cytometric analyses were performed 48 hours after adjustment of the iron concentration level. In in vivo studies, an iron depleted diet was used to simulate iron depleted conditions. Nude mice were divided into normal diet and iron depleted diet groups. The mice were fed with these diets for three weeks and then a suspension of miPS-LLCcm cells was injected into the backs of the nude mice. Tumor size was measured and the tumors were immunohistologically examined.

Results: In the in vitro studies, transferrin strongly promoted the proliferation of cancer stem cells under iron depletion conditions compared to no transferrin(p&lt;0.001). However, transferrin did not promote the proliferation of the differentiated 4T1 and colon26 cancer cells. The number of GFP-expressing cancer stem cells decreased as the iron concentration was decreased. In the vivo studies, iron depletion significantly suppressed the tumor growth of the cancer stem cells (p&lt;0.05). Immunohistological analysis indicated that Nanog expression was also decreased in the tumors of the iron depletion diet group.

Conclusions: Iron is a key element for the proliferation and differentiation of cancer stem cells. Iron controlling therapy including iron chelators is a novel therapeutic target of cancer stem cells.

Citation Format: Takayuki Ninomiya, Toshiaki Ohara, Hajime Kashima, Ryoichi Katsube, Kazuhiro Noma, Yasuko Tomono, Akifumi Mizutani, Tomonari Kasai, Masaharu Seno, Shinji Kuroda, Hiroyuki Kishimoto, Hiroshi Tazawa, Yasuhiro Shirakawa, Shunsuke Kagawa, Toshiyoshi Fujiwara. Iron control is a novel therapeutic target of cancer stem cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4243. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4243