Stem Cell Differentiation Stage Factors from Zebrafish Embryo: A Novel Strategy to Modulate the Fate of Normal and Pathological Human (Stem) Cells

What is it about?

Reprogramming of cancer stem cells, that means the possibility of conditioning the fate of tumor stem cells, offers the opportunity to find new treatments, which act in physiological way, without genetic manipulation. For more informations please visit: https://reprogramcells.com/

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Why is it important?

Reprogramming tumor cells can be used in association with chemotherapeutic agents. It has demontrated a synergistic effect: Seven different human tumor lines (multiforma gliobastoma, melanoma, hepatocarcinoma, kidney, colon, and breast adenocarcinoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia) have been treated with factors taken from Zebrafish embryos in four different development stages: a) morular stage, characterized by merely multiplicatory events and therefore made of totipotent embryo stem cells, b) medium-blastula/gastrula (50% epiboly), where the totipotent embryo stem cells differentiate into pluripotent ones, c) five somite stage and d) 20 somite stage, where important differentiation events, characterizing the intermediate and final embryo differentiation, take place. All cancer cell lines have shown a significant slowdown in the growth curve when treated with factors drawn during the above-mentioned cell differentiation stages, with inhibition percentages ranging from 73% of the glioblastoma and 26% of the melanoma. Objective tumor response median overall survival and performance status have been evaluated. Results showed a 19.8% patients who experienced a regression and 16% patients who experienced a stabilization with an overall survival of more than 60% of responsive patients after 40 months, against 10% of non responsive ones. A wide improvement of performance status has been registered in a great majority of patients (82.6%).

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