Loss of the human polycomb group protein BMI1 promotes cancer-specific cell death
Abstract
The polycomb group protein BMI1 has been shown to support normal stem cell proliferation via its putative stem cell factor function, but it is not known if BMI1 may also act as a cancer stem cell factor to promote cancer development. To determine the role of human BMI1 in cancer growth and survival, we performed a loss-of-function analysis of BMI1 by RNA interference (RNAi) in both normal and malignant human cells. Our results indicate that BMI1 is crucial for the short-term survival of cancer cells but not of normal cells. We also demonstrated that loss of BMI1 was more effective in suppressing cancer cell growth than retinoid-treatment, and surviving cancer cells showed significantly reduced tumorigenicity. The cancer-specific growth retardation was mediated by an increased level of apoptosis and a delayed cell cycle progression due to the loss of BMI1. By comparison, BMI1 deficiency caused only a moderate inhibition of the cell cycle progression in normal lung cells. In both normal and cancer cells, the loss of BMI1 led to an upregulation of INK4A-ARF, but with no significant effect on the level of telomerase gene expression, suggesting that other BMI1-cooperative factors in addition to INK4A-ARF activation may be involved i...Continue Reading
Associated Clinical Trials
References
Citations
Related Feeds
Apoptosis in Cancer
Apoptosis is an important mechanism in cancer. By evading apoptosis, tumors can continue to grow without regulation and metastasize systemically. Many therapies are evaluating the use of pro-apoptotic activation to eliminate cancer growth. Here is the latest research on apoptosis in cancer.
Cancer Epigenetics and Chromatin (Keystone)
Epigenetic changes are present and dysregulated in many cancers, including DNA methylation, non-coding RNA segments and post-translational protein modifications. The epigenetic changes may or may not provide advantages for the cancer cells. This feed focuses on chromatin and its role in cancer epigenetics please follow this feed to learn more.
Cancer Epigenetics Chromatin Complexes (Keystone)
Epigenetic changes are present and dysregulated in many cancers, including DNA methylation, non-coding RNA segments and post-translational protein modifications. The epigenetic changes may or may not provide advantages for the cancer cells. This feed focuses on chromatin complexes and their role in cancer epigenetics.
Apoptosis
Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis