The present study investigated the mechanism of paclitaxel (PTX) resistance in human epithelial OC by evaluating the expression of stem cell-associated cell surface markers endoglin (CD105), CD44 antigen and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (CD106), in association with the malignant potential of the human OC OVCAR3 cell line and its PTX-resistant derivative OC3/TAX300.
<b>Conclusions:</b> As both Snail and ZEB1 are crucial inducers of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), our data suggested that CD44 may be crucial for the EMT process of ovarian cancer.
Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the association between the expression of CSC-relevant markers (ALDH1, CD117, CD133, and CD44) and OC.
CD44 splice isoforms contribute to the aggressiveness and gain of stem-like properties in different cancer types, but their role in ovarian cancer remains to be elucidated.
Intriguingly, the therapeutic studies in SKOV-3 human ovarian carcinoma and MDA-MB-231 human breast tumor xenografted in nude mice revealed that GrB-EGFR/CD44-NGs at a low dose of 3.85 nmol GrB equiv/kg induced nearly complete growth suppression of both tumors, which was obviously more effective than GrB-CD44-NGs, without causing any adverse effects.
Expression of the epithelial CD44 variant containing exons v8-10 (CD44v8-10) has been associated with more chemoresistant and metastatic tumors in gastrointestinal and breast cancers, but its role in ovarian cancer is unknown; we therefore investigated its use as a prognostic marker in this disease.
Here we designed and characterized a hyaluronic acid (HA) based self-assembling nanoparticles that can target CD44 receptors overexpressed on multidrug resistance (MDR) ovarian cancer.
Plasmid targeting CD44 gene (pshCD44) or non-relative control sequences (pshHK) was constructed and delivered to ovarian cancer by biodegradable poly D, L-Lactide-co-glycolide acid nanoparticles (PLGANPs).
Noncanonical NF-κB activation by extracellular TG2 induced CD44 up-regulation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, contributing to increased cancer cell invasiveness and OC peritoneal dissemination.
Administration of PLGA nanoparticles carrying shRNA against focal adhesion kinase and CD44 results in enhanced antitumor effects against ovarian cancer.
We show a high therapeutic potential for combinatorial treatment of ovarian carcinoma with a novel DDS that effectively transports siRNA targeting to CD44 mRNA simultaneously with cytotoxic agents.
Polymer conjugates bearing HA oligomers at the size of 10 oligosaccharides and above (HA(10-14)) bind actively and profoundly to CD44-overexpressing ovarian cancer cells (SK-OV-3) and internalize to the greatest extent relative to HA-polymer conjugates of 8 oligomers and below (HA(4-8)).