Metastatic ability and the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition in induced cancer stem‐like hepatoma cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to play important roles in cancer malignancy. Previously, we successfully induced sphere cancer stem‐like cells (CSLCs) from several cell lines and observed the property of chemoresistance. In the present study, we examined the metastatic potential of these induced CSLCs. Sphere cancer stem‐like cells were induced from a human hepatoma cell line (SK‐HEP‐1) in a unique medium containing neural survival factor‐1. Splenic injection of cells into immune‐deficient mice was used to assess hematogenous liver metastasis. Transcriptomic strand‐specific RNA‐sequencing analysis, quantitative real‐time PCR, and flow cytometry were carried out to examine the expression of epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT)‐related genes. Splenic injection of CSLCs resulted in a significantly increased frequency of liver metastasis compared to parental cancer cells (P