Cancer Stem Cells Promote Tumorigenesis and Progression of Pancreatic Cancer Through Notch-1 Pathway

Although cancer stem cells (CSCs) from pancreatic carcinoma were first identified many years ago, their properties and functions remain unclear. In addition, characterizing these cells may provide insight into potential accurate targeting therapies. The aim of the present study was to investigate the characterization of CD44⁺CD24⁺ pancreatic CSCs and the effect on the growth and tumorigenesis. CD44⁺CD24⁺ pancreatic CSCs were isolated from PANC-1 cell lice. It was observed <i>in vitro</i> that CD44⁺CD24⁺ cells were stronger than control cells in the fields of proliferation, sphere-forming ability, invasion and migration, colony formation, and that expression of Notch-1 mRNA and protein were higher in CD44⁺CD24⁺ cells than in the control cells. This study suggested that CD44⁺CD24⁺ cells exhibited cancer cell stemness <i>in vitro</i>, and promoted tumorigenesis and invasion of pancreatic cancer which is important to the development of accurate therapies targeting pancreatic CSCs. It is concluded that this study provided most important theoretical foundation for the clinical research and will be applied to individuals with pancreatic cancer by the method of clinical translational studies in the future.