Colon cancer stem cells resist antiangiogenesis therapy-induced apoptosis.

Antiangiogenesis is an efficient therapy for eliminating colon cancers, but because of recurrence it remains only palliative. We hypothesized that certain populations of tumor cells resist antiangiogenesis-induced apoptosis and explored the underlying mechanism. We demonstrated that the CD133(+) population of cells in colon cancer is resistant to anti-angiogenesis therapy. Additionally, we identified an anti-apoptotic signaling pathway responsible for this resistance involving PP2A, p38MAPK, MAPKAPK2, and Hsp27. Thus, this pathway may offer a new avenue to develop target therapy for colorectal cancer.