Abstract：Objective: To investigate the effect of tobacco smoke on self-renewal ability and stemness genes expression of bladder cancer stem cells. Methods: The bladder cancer stem cells obtained from human bladder cancer cells UM-UC-3 were treated with different concentrations of cigarette smoke extract(CSE, 0%，0.1% and 0.25%) for 4 days. The effect of CSE on the sizes and quantities of bladder cancer stem cells spheres were observed. The expression of stemness genes CD44, ALDH1-A1， OCT-4, and Nanog were detected by Western blotting. Results: 0.1% and 0.25% CSE promoted the formation of bladder cancer stem cell spheres, while the cell spheres of CSE groups were significantly larger than the control group; Western blotting results showed that the expression of CD44, ALDH1-A1, OCT-4, and Nanog were significantly increased in 0.1% and 0.25% CSE groups. Conclusion: Tobacco smoke can promote the selfrenewal ability of bladder cancer stem cells and upregulate the expression levels of CD44, ALDH1-A1， OCT-4, and Nanog.
［Key words］cigarette smoke extract; bladder cancer stem cells; self-renewal; stemness genes
2019, Vol. 29 
