Author of

• 18272

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  P3.01 - Poster Session with Presenters Present (ID 469)

  • Event: WCLC 2016
  • Type: Poster Presenters Present
  • Track: Biology/Pathology
  • Presentations: 1
  • Moderators:
  • Coordinates: 12/07/2016, 14:30 - 15:45, Hall B (Poster Area)

  • 18332

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    P3.01-060 - Aptamers as a Tool to Detect Lung Cancer Stem Cells (ID 4633)

    14:30 - 14:30  |  Author(s): I.C. Nascimento
    • Abstract

    Background:
    Cancer stem cells (CSC) are a subpopulation of cells in the tumor with capacity for self-renewal and differentiation. Due to these characteristics, CSC are referred to as tumor initiating cells. Several studies suggest that CSC might be responsible for metastasis and resistance to conventional therapies leading to tumor recurrence. A challenge in cancer biology is to discover the biomarkers for specific types of cancer and the development of probes capable of identifying these targets. Thus, the objective of this study is the development of DNA aptamers for selective identification of the molecular signature of lung CSC.
    
    Methods:
    A549 lung carcinoma cells were used as target to perform the isolation of aptamers from a random library of DNA through the cell SELEX technique. For negative cycles for removal of DNA molecules binding to common epitopes between different cell types, blood cells were used.
    
    Results:
    CSC from A549 were expanded in vitro as tumorspheres and stemness marker expression profiles analyzed by flow cytometry. Flow cytometry comparing the cells labeled with the initial library or with the selected aptamers, showed in the latter a large increase in the labeled population. This highly fluorescence-tagged aptamer-labeled cell population was also positive for CD90, described as a marker for cancer stem cells. This double-labeled population was isolated by cell sorting with the aptamers being purified from the cells, sequenced and grouped into families based on homology between sequences. Eight aptamers were identified, whose affinity and specificity are currently being analyzed.
    
    Conclusion:
    The cell line A549 has a population of cells with stem cell characteristics. Furthermore, the selected aptamers are able to identify a subpopulation of cells, which express stem cell markers. Financial support: FAPESP; CNPq (Brazil)