CD133 Promotes Adhesion to the Ovarian Cancer Metastatic Niche.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are an attractive therapeutic target due to their predicted role in both metastasis and chemoresistance. One of the most commonly agreed on markers for ovarian CSCs is the cell surface protein CD133. CD133+ ovarian CSCs have increased tumorigenicity, resistance to chemotherapy, and increased metastasis.

Phosphorylation of the oncogenic transcription factor ERG in prostate cells dissociates polycomb repressive complex 2, allowing target gene activation.

In ∼50% of prostate cancers, chromosomal rearrangements cause the fusion of the promoter and 5'-UTR of the androgen-regulated (, ) gene to the open reading frame of , encoding an ETS family transcription factor. This fusion results in expression of full-length or N-terminally truncated ERG protein in prostate epithelia. ERG is not expressed in normal prostate epithelia, but when expressed, it promotes tumorigenesis via altered gene expression, stimulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cellular migration/invasion, and transformation.