Cited by 29Cancer Cells and MetastasisEffects of Radiation ExposureCell death mechanisms and regulation

Cancer Cells Enter an Adaptive Persistence to Survive Radiotherapy and Repopulate Tumor

Open access
Zhao, Yucui, Lu, Tingting, Song, Yanwei, Wen, Yanqin, Deng, Zheng, Fan, Jiahui, Zhao, Minghui, Zhao, Ruyi +14 more·2023·Advanced Science

Abstract

Repopulation of residual tumor cells impedes curative radiotherapy, yet the mechanism is not fully understood. It is recently appreciated that cancer cells adopt a transient persistence to survive the stress of chemo‐ or targeted therapy and facilitate eventual relapse. Here, it is shown that cancer cells likewise enter a “radiation‐tolerant persister” (RTP) state to evade radiation pressure in vitro and in vivo. RTP cells are characterized by enlarged cell size with complex karyotype, activated type I interferon pathway and two gene patterns represented by CST3 and SNCG. RTP cells have the potential to regenerate progenies via viral budding‐like division, and type I interferon‐mediated antiviral signaling impaired progeny production. Depleting CST3 or SNCG does not attenuate the formation of RTP cells, but can suppress RTP cells budding with impaired tumor repopulation. Interestingly, progeny cells produced by RTP cells actively lose their aberrant chromosomal fragments and gradually recover back to a chromosomal constitution similar to their unirradiated parental cells. Collectively, this study reveals a novel mechanism of tumor repopulation, i.e., cancer cell populations employ a reversible radiation‐persistence by poly‐ and de‐polyploidization to survive radiotherapy and repopulate the tumor, providing a new therapeutic concept to improve outcome of patients receiving radiotherapy.

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  • Cystatin C plays a critical role in enabling cancer cells to enter a radiation-tolerant state, allowing them to evade radiation and repopulate the tumor.

    “Importantly, cystatin C plays a critical role in enabling cancer cells to enter a radiation-tolerant state, allowing them to evade radiation and repopulate the tumor11.”

    From Oligomeric cystatin C supports the immunosuppressive activity of myeloid cells through interaction with inhibitory receptors (2025) · cites this paper as [11]

    The Results (‘Gene Profiling Verified by 10× scRNA-seq and Functional Studies’; page not provided) report that CST3 knockout reduced progeny production and radiation survival. But knockout did not prevent formation of radiation-tolerant persister cells, so the claim that cystatin C enables cancer cells to enter that state is not supported. The Abstract likewise links CST3 depletion to reduced budding and tumor repopulation, not reduced entry into the state. (LLM, conf=0.91)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Cystatin C promotes tumor growth and therapy resistance by enhancing cancer cell survival during radiotherapy and facilitating tumor repopulation.

    “While cystatin C has been reported to promote tumor growth and therapy resistance by enhancing cancer cell survival during radiotherapy and facilitating tumor repopulation11”

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  1. [31]X.‐R. Tang, Y.‐Q. Li, S.‐B. Liang, W. Jiang, F. Liu, W.‐X. Ge, L.‐L. Tang, Y.‐P. Mao, Q.‐M. He, X.‐J. Yang, Y. Zhang, X. Wen, J. Zhang, Y.‐Q. Wang, P.‐P. Zhang, Y. Sun, J.‐P. Yun, J. Zeng, L. Li, L.‐Z. Liu, N. Liu, J. Ma, Lancet Oncol. 2018, 19, 382.29428165

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Authors
Zhao, Y., Lu, T., Song, Y., Wen, Y., Deng, Z., Fan, J., Zhao, M., Zhao, R., Luo, Y., xie, J., Hu, B., Sun, H., Wang, Y., He, S., Gong, Y., Cheng, J., Liu, X., Yu, L., Li, J., Li, C., Shi, Y., & Huang, Q.
Affiliations
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
  • Bio‐X Institutes Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education) Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai 200030 China
  • Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
  • Department of Dermatology Duke University Medical Center Box 3135 Durham NC 27710 USA
  • Qingdao University (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Shi, Yongyong
  • Huang, Qian
Venue
Advanced Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2023-01-19
Volume
10
Issue
8
Pages
e2204177-e2204177
ISSN
2198-3844 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4317568172
Cited by
29
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 2
FWCI
3.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Advanced Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Natural Science Foundation of China (81972843, 81572951, 81120108017)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Cells and Metastasis
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Effects of Radiation Exposure
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cell death mechanisms and regulation
Keywords
tumor repopulation, radiotherapy resistance, type I interferon signaling, CST3, SNCG, polyploidy, karyotype instability
MeSH terms
Humans, Neoplasms, Cell Line, Tumor

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