Cells, Free Full-Text

Cancer stem cells play a crucial role in tumor initiation, metastasis, and resistance to treatment. Cellular heterogeneity and plasticity complicate the isolation of cancer stem cells. The impact of intra-tumor cellular heterogeneity using a label-free approach remains understudied in the context of treatment resistance. Here, we use the sedimentation field–flow fractionation technique to separate, without labeling, cell subpopulations of colorectal cancer cell lines and primary cultures according to their biophysical properties. One of the three sorted cell subpopulations exhibits characteristics of cancer stem cells, including high tumorigenicity in vivo and a higher frequency of tumor-initiating cells compared to the other subpopulations. Due to its chemoresistance, two- and three-dimensional in vitro chemosensitivity assays highlight the therapeutic relevance of this cancer stem cell subpopulation. Thus, our results reveal the major implication of intra-tumor cellular heterogeneity, including cancer stem cells in treatment resistance, thanks to our label-free cell sorting approach. This approach enables—by breaking down the tumor—the study the individualized response of each sorted tumor cell subpopulation and to identify chemoresistance, thus offering new perspectives for personalized therapy.

STEM CELLS: Vol 35, No 5

Rapid cell-free forward engineering of novel genetic ring

A) Cell-free expression of sfGFP fused to a variety of N-and

Biology, Free Full-Text

Textile-embedded cell-free biosensors

Remote immune processes revealed by immune-derived circulating

Cell Circuits and Complex Tissues

The dependence of cell-free protein synthesis in E. coli upon

Cell-Free Protein Synthesis: Methods and Protocols

Cells, Free Full-Text