{"title":"The role of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 in stem cells and cancer stem cells","authors":"H. Tomita, Kaori Tanaka, K. Hisamatsu, A. Hara","doi":"10.14800/CCM.1064","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is a ubiquitous intracellular enzyme that catalyzes the irreversible oxidation of a variety of cellular aldehydes. High levels of ALDH activity, involving several isoforms of ALDH (ALDH1A1, ALDH1A2, ALDH1A3 and ALDH8A1), have been proposed as a common feature of stem cells. Adult hematopoietic, neural, and cancer stem cells have been reported to have high ALDH activity, decreased using Aldefluor, a fluorogenic substrate for ALDH. This activity has been attributed to ALDH1A1 expression, an enzyme that has been suggested to regulate stem cell function, including self-protection, differentiation, and expansion of stem cell populations. Recently, it was found that, in the liver, ALDH1A1 was expressed in almost all normal hepatocytes. However, ALDH1A1-overexpressing cells in hepatocellular carcinoma were not co-expressed with putative cancer stem cell markers CD133, CD13, CD90, BMI1, and EpCAM. In this respect, cancer stem cell target therapy related to ALDH1A1 should proceed with some caution; more detailed studies are needed because of this off-target toxicology. However, the subpopulation of cancer stem cells does represent a potential therapeutic target for poor-prognostic, treatment–resistant and recurrent cancer.","PeriodicalId":9576,"journal":{"name":"Cancer cell & microenvironment","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2015-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cancer cell & microenvironment","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.14800/CCM.1064","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is a ubiquitous intracellular enzyme that catalyzes the irreversible oxidation of a variety of cellular aldehydes. High levels of ALDH activity, involving several isoforms of ALDH (ALDH1A1, ALDH1A2, ALDH1A3 and ALDH8A1), have been proposed as a common feature of stem cells. Adult hematopoietic, neural, and cancer stem cells have been reported to have high ALDH activity, decreased using Aldefluor, a fluorogenic substrate for ALDH. This activity has been attributed to ALDH1A1 expression, an enzyme that has been suggested to regulate stem cell function, including self-protection, differentiation, and expansion of stem cell populations. Recently, it was found that, in the liver, ALDH1A1 was expressed in almost all normal hepatocytes. However, ALDH1A1-overexpressing cells in hepatocellular carcinoma were not co-expressed with putative cancer stem cell markers CD133, CD13, CD90, BMI1, and EpCAM. In this respect, cancer stem cell target therapy related to ALDH1A1 should proceed with some caution; more detailed studies are needed because of this off-target toxicology. However, the subpopulation of cancer stem cells does represent a potential therapeutic target for poor-prognostic, treatment–resistant and recurrent cancer.