ArticleScientific reports2021
CD117/c-kit defines a prostate CSC-like subpopulation driving progression and TKI resistance.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Current therapeutic interventions to target cancer stem cells for metastasis.International journal of clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Circulating tumour cells as a window into lethality in prostate cancer.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- LIF-Induced Tumor Plasticity Establishes an Immunosuppressive Myeloid Niche in LKB1-Mutant Lung Cancer.Cancer discovery · 2026Article
- The contribution of stem cell factor and its receptor c-Kit to cancer-induced bone pain.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Peritumoral CD117 Immunopositive Mast Cell Density in Prostatic Adenocarcinoma and Its Correlation with the New Gleason Score.Indian journal of surgical oncology · 2025Article
- Targeting cancer stem cells with CAR-based immunotherapy: biology, evidence, and future directions.Cancer cell international · 2025Review
- Folic Acid-Modified Milk Exosomes Delivering c-Kit siRNA Overcome EGFR-TKIs Resistance in Lung Cancer by Suppressing mTOR Signaling and Stemness.International journal of biological sciences · 2025Article
- An integrative proteomics approach identifies tyrosine kinase KIT as a therapeutic target for SPINK1-positive prostate cancer.iScience · 2024Article
- Understanding Cancer's Defense against Topoisomerase-Active Drugs: A Comprehensive Review.Cancers · 2024Review
- Article
- Prostate cancer stem cells and their targeted therapies.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Review
- Prostate Cancer Stem Cells: Biology and Treatment Implications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Appearance of tuft cells during prostate cancer progression.Oncogene · 2023Article
- Tissue-specific cancer stem/progenitor cells: Therapeutic implications.World journal of stem cells · 2023Review
- The Molecular Biology of Prostate Cancer Stem Cells: From the Past to the Future.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Tumor microenvironment-induced tumor cell plasticity: relationship with hypoxic stress and impact on tumor resistance.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Review
- Expression level of CD117 (KIT) on ovarian cancer extracellular vesicles correlates with tumor aggressiveness.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- Cancer Stemness/Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Axis Influences Metastasis and Castration Resistance in Prostate Cancer: Potential Therapeutic Target.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Bufalin Inhibits Tumorigenesis, Stemness, and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Colorectal Cancer through a C-Kit/Slug Signaling Axis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Prostate cancer as a dedifferentiated organ: androgen receptor, cancer stem cells, and cancer stemness.Essays in biochemistry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) are associated with cancer progression, metastasis, and recurrence, and may also represent a subset of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). In our prior study, CTCs in advanced prostate cancer patients were found to express CD117/c-kit in a liquid biopsy. Whether CD117 expression played an active or passive role in the aggressiveness and migration of these CTCs remained an open question. In this study, we show that CD117 expression in prostate cancer patients is associated with decreased overall and progression-free survival and that activation and phosphorylation of CD117 increases in prostate cancer patients with higher Gleason grades. To determine how CD117 expression and activation by its ligand stem cell factor (SCF, kit ligand, steel factor) alter prostate cancer aggressiveness, we used C4-2 and PC3-mm human prostate cancer cells, which contain a CD117+ subpopulation. We demonstrate that CD117+ cells display increased proliferation and migration. In prostaspheres, CD117 expression enhances sphere formation. In both 2D and 3D cultures, stemness marker gene expression is higher in CD117+ cells. Using xenograft limiting dilution assays and serial tumor initiation assays, we show that CD117+ cells represent a CSC population. Combined, these data indicate that CD117 expression potentially promotes tumor initiation and metastasis. Further, in cell lines, CD117 activation by SCF promotes faster proliferation and invasiveness, while blocking CD117 activation with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) decreased progression in a context-dependent manner. We demonstrate that CD117 expression and activation drives prostate cancer aggressiveness through the CSC phenotype and TKI resistance.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.