TESC associated with poor prognosis enhances cancer stemness and migratory properties in liver cancer
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2025

Discovery of Driver Genes in Colorectal HT29-derived Cancer Stem-Like Tumorspheres
Published on: July 22, 2020
Peng Ye1, Shahang Luo2, Junyu Huang3
1Infection Medicine Research Institute of Panyu District, The Affiliated Panyu Central Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Abstract:
Liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) are responsible for recurrence, metastasis, and drug resistance in liver cancer. However, the genes responsible for inducing LCSCs have not been fully identified. Based on our previous study, we found that tescalcin (TESC), a calcium-binding EF hand protein that plays a crucial role in chromatin remodeling, transcriptional regulation, and epigenetic modifications, was up-regulated in LCSCs of spheroid cultures. By searching the Cancer Genome Atlas, International Cancer Genome Consortium, Human Protein Atlas, and Kaplan-Meier Plotter databases, we found that TESC expression was significantly elevated in liver cancer compared with that in normal liver tissue and was predictive of a decreased overall survival rate. Multivariate Cox analysis revealed TESC to be an independent prognostic factor for survival. High TESC expression was positively associated with cancer stem cell pathways, cancer stem cell surface markers, stemness transcription factors, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) factors, immune checkpoint proteins, and various cancer-related biological processes in liver cancer. Furthermore, TESC was implicated as promoting cancer stem cell properties through its influence on EMT. We demonstrated that TESC is a novel stemness-related gene that can serve as an independent prognostic factor for liver cancer.
More Related Videos
07:29Studying Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cell Characteristics for Developing New Treatment Strategies
Published on: June 20, 2015
11:15A Preclinical Mouse Model of Osteosarcoma to Define the Extracellular Vesicle-mediated Communication Between Tumor and Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Published on: May 6, 2018
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...
The Tumor Microenvironment
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Metastasis
Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition
The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition or EMT is a developmental process commonly observed in wound healing, embryogenesis, and cancer metastasis. EMT is induced by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) or receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ligands, which further...
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Replicative Cell Senescence