Oral communication, S4 PASPCR Aaron Lerner Lecture

Official XXIst International Pigment Cell Conference website - 21-24 Sept 2011, Bordeaux - France | updated: September 04 2011

Signalling and transcription in melanoma stem-like cells

Tumours comprise multiple phenotypically distinct subpopulations of cells, some of which are proposed to possess stem cell-like properties, being able to self-renew, seed and maintain tumours, and provide a reservoir of therapeutically-resistant cells. Here we use melanoma as a model to explore the validity of the cancer stem cell hypothesis in the light of accumulating evidence that melanoma progression may be driven by phenotype-switching triggered by genetic lesions that impose an increased sensitivity to changes in the tumour microenvironment. Although at any given moment cells within a tumour may exhibit differentiated, proliferative or invasive phenotypes, an ability to switch phenotypes implies that most cells will have the potential to adopt a stem cell-like identity. Insights into the molecular events underpinning phenotype-switching in melanoma highlight the close relationship between signalling pathways that generate, maintain and activate melanocyte stem cells with those underpinning melanoma stem-like cells, and the inverse correlation between proliferation and invasive potentials. An understanding of phenotype-switching in melanoma, and in particular the signalling events that regulate the expression and activity of the Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor Mitf, points to new therapeutic opportunities aimed at eradicating therapeutically resistant stem cell-like melanoma cells.

Advertisement from our sponsor: