Identification of therapeutic targets for chemotherapy-resistant colon cancer stem cells

Abstract

Current first-line chemotherapy generally consists of cytotoxic agents. While these agents may initially control disease by effectively debulking tumors, the tumors invariably recur due to the ability of cancer stem cells (CSCs) to survive and repopulate the tumor mass. To identify potential molecular targets in 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) refractory colon CSCs, we developed 5-FU resistant cell lines over a period of a year. Here we show that 5-FU maintains colon CSCs in an undifferentiated state in vitro.