Silencing stem cell factor attenuates stemness and inhibits migration of cancer stem cells derived from Lewis lung carcinoma cells

Stem cell factor (SCF) plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. However, the function of SCF in regulating stemness and migration of cancer stem cells (CSCs) remains largely undefined. Here, we report that non-adhesive culture system can enrich and expand CSCs derived from Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells and that the expression level of SCF in CSCs was higher than those in LLC cells. Silencing SCF via short hairpin (sh) RNA lentivirus transduction attenuated sphere formation and inhibited expressions of stemness genes, ALDH1, Sox2, and Oct4 of CSCs in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, SCF-silenced CSCs inhibited the migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, with decreased expression of N-cadherin, Vimentin, and increased expression of E-cadherin in vitro and in vivo. Finally, SCF-short hairpin RNA (shRNA) lentivirus transduction suppressed tumorigenicity of CSCs. Taken together, our findings unraveled an important role of SCF in CSCs derived from LLC cells. SCF might serve as a novel target for lung cancer therapy.