CWP232228 targets liver cancer stem cells through Wnt/β-catenin signaling: a novel therapeutic approach for liver cancer treatment

// Ji-Young Kim 1, 2, * , Hwa-Yong Lee 3, * , Kwan-Kyu Park 4 , Yang-Kyu Choi 2 , Jeong-Seok Nam 5 , In-Sun Hong 6, 7 1 Center of Animal Care and Use, Lee Gil Ya Cancer and Diabetes Institute, Gachon University, Incheon, Republic of Korea 2 Department of Laboratory Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea 3 The Faculty of Liberal Arts, Jungwon University, Chungbuk, Republic of Korea 4 Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, South Korea 5 School of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Republic of Korea 6 Laboratory of Stem Cell Research, Lee Gil Ya Cancer and Diabetes Institute, Gachon University, Incheon, South Korea 7 Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Gachon University, Incheon, Republic of Korea * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Jeong-Seok Nam, e-mail: namjs0206@gmail.com In-Sun Hong, e-mail: hongstem@gachon.ac.kr Keywords: CWP232228, cancer stem cells, Wnt/β-catenin signaling, CD133, ALDH Received: September 11, 2015      Accepted: January 16, 2016      Published: March 07, 2016 ABSTRACT Liver cancer stem cells (CSCs) are resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiation, which may destroy tumor masses, but not all liver CSCs contribute to tumor initiation, metastasis, and relapse. In the present study, we showed that liver CSCs with elevated Wnt/β-catenin signaling possess much greater self-renewal and clonogenic potential. We further documented that the increased clonogenic potential of liver CSCs is highly associated with changes in Wnt/β-catenin signaling and that Wnt/β-catenin signaling activity is positively correlated with CD133 expression and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymatic activity. Notably, the small molecule inhibitor CWP232228, which antagonizes the binding of β-catenin to TCF in the nucleus, inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signaling and depletes CD133 + /ALDH + liver CSCs, thus ultimately diminishing the self-renewal capacity of CSCs and decreasing tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo . Taken together, our findings suggest that CWP232228 acts as a candidate therapeutic agent for liver cancer by preferentially targeting liver CSCs.