Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 10, 2025

Identifying DNA Mutations in Purified Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells
Published on: February 24, 2014
The DEAD-box helicase DDX56 is a conserved stemness regulator in normal and cancer stem cells
Michael Pryszlak1, Mallory Wiggans1, Xin Chen2
1The Hospital for Sick Children, Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada; University of Toronto, Department of Molecular Genetics, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada.
Abstract:
Across the animal kingdom, adult tissue homeostasis is regulated by adult stem cell activity, which is commonly dysregulated in human cancers. However, identifying key regulators of stem cells in the milieu of thousands of genes dysregulated in a given cancer is challenging. Here, using a comparative genomics approach between planarian adult stem cells and patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs), we identify and demonstrate the role of DEAD-box helicase DDX56 in regulating aspects of stemness in four stem cell systems: planarians, mouse neural stem cells, human GSCs, and a fly model of glioblastoma. In a human GSC line, DDX56 localizes to the nucleolus, and using planarians, when DDX56 is lost, stem cells dysregulate expression of ribosomal RNAs and lose nucleolar integrity prior to stem cell death. Together, a comparative genomic approach can be used to uncover conserved stemness regulators that are functional in both normal and cancer stem cells.
More Related Videos
11:28Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics
Published on: May 11, 2016
09:24Combined Conditional Knockdown and Adapted Sphere Formation Assay to Study a Stemness-Associated Gene of Patient-derived Gastric Cancer Stem Cells
Published on: May 9, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...
DNA Damage can Stall the Cell Cycle
DNA Damage Can Stall the Cell Cycle
Distinctive Features of Adult Stem Cells vs Cancer Stem Cells
Adult stem cells
Adult stem cells are tissue-specific; hence, they divide to develop the tissue from which they originate. One type of adult stem cell is the epithelial stem cell, which gives rise to the keratinocytes in the multiple layers of epithelial cells in the epidermis of the skin. Adult bone marrow has three distinct types of stem cells:...
Abnormal Proliferation
Restarting Stalled Replication Forks