c-Kit as a Novel Potential Therapeutic Target in Colorectal Cancer Yatrik M. Shah  Gastroenterology  Volume 149, Issue 3, Pages 534-537 (September 2015) DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2015.07.027 Copyright © 2015 AGA Institute Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 Differentiated epithelial (blue cells) cells in colon tumors secrete stem cell factor, which modulates growth of tumor initiating or stem-like cells (brown cells) through activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase, c-Kit, which is highly expressed in hypoxic tumor foci. c-Kit is highly expressed in the tumor initialing or stem-like cells through regulation by hypoxic signals. Inhibition of c-Kit by imatinib leads to a decrease in tumor growth. Mechanistically, c-Kit signaling is shown to be essential for maintaining growth of tumor initiating cells. Imatinib or other c-Kit inhibitors increase differentiation markers and decrease stem cell markers in the tumor-initiating cells. Gastroenterology 2015 149, 534-537DOI: (10.1053/j.gastro.2015.07.027) Copyright © 2015 AGA Institute Terms and Conditions