Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a key role in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). The high heterogeneity of CSCs has hindered the clinical application of CSC-targeting therapies. Tetracyclines a Show more
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a key role in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). The high heterogeneity of CSCs has hindered the clinical application of CSC-targeting therapies. Tetracyclines are drugs with therapeutic potentials beyond their antibiotic activity. We previously demonstrated the efficacy of tigecycline, a third-generation tetracycline, against a model of colitis-associated colorectal cancer, primarily focusing on its immunomodulatory role with a preliminary assessment of its impact on stemness. In this study we characterize the effects of tigecycline on colon CSCs in vitro and in a CRC xenograft model, with special attention on the signaling pathways involved and the modulation of the gut microbiota. We generated secondary colonospheres from two colon tumor cell lines HCT116 and CMT93, and evaluated the effect of tigecycline on CSCs properties. We showed that tigecycline (25, 50 μM) effectively reduced colon CD133 Show less