Hydrogel-induced gene expression changes

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small subpopulation of self-renewing oncogenic cells that can drive cancer initiation and generate differentiated non-CSC cells. CSCs have been considered resistant to many anti-cancer drugs, and thus implicated in cancer relapse. Recently, it has been shown that culture on certain synthetic hydrogels rapidly induces expression of CSC markers, such as OCT4 and NANOG, more strongly than the conventional sphere culture and confers CSC activity on cancer cells. In this study, we have established a novel method to induce CSC-like properties in cancer cells by using positively charged hydrogel composed of a neutral monomer, N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAAm), and a cationic monomer, 3-acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium (APTMA). The data submitted to DDBJ are the results of RNA-sequencing of MCF-7 breast cancer cells cultured on the DMAAm-APTMA hydrogel or conventional polystyrene dishes. The data have revealed how the DMAAm-APTMA hydrogel affects gene expression patterns and thereby induces stemness in cancer cells.