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Bergen Gynecologic Cancer Research Group
Our Projects - endometrial cancer

Cancer stem cells in endometrial cancer

By identifying and characterizing cancer stem cells in endometrial cancer, we hope to determine the cancer stem cell types important in endometrial cancer and how these relate to patient outcome. 

Mass cytomtery of endometrial tumor
Several stem cell and epithelial markers in endometrial tumor tissue visualised by mass cytometry.
Photo:
Hilde E. Lien, UoB

Main content

A subpopulation of cancer cells can have features similar to normal stem cells. These cancer stem cells are self-renewing and give rise to differentiated cancer cells. Cancer stem cells are associated with treatment resistance and metastasis. Endometrial cancer is known to be a heterogeneous disease and many patients acquire resistance to chemotherapy. To study cancer stem cells in endometrial cancer, we have developed a panel of metal-tagged antibodies to be used to construct images of tumor tissue that allows us to identify different cancer cell types and cancer stem cells. In addition, we are studying cancer stem cells in tumor models (organoids) from patient tissue which is used to investigate chemoresistance.