CD24-/low stem-like breast cancer marker defines the radiation-resistant cells involved in memorization and transmission of radiation-induced genomic instability

A growing body of evidence attributes properties of chemo- and/or radiation-resistance to cancer stem cells (CSCs). Moreover, non-targeted delayed effects such as genomic instability, transmitted through many generations, can be observed in the progeny of surviving irradiated cells. As a consequence, we propose that radiation-resistance properties associated to CSCs could confer a key role to this subpopulation in the transmission of genomic instability. To test this hypothesis, we searched the CSC markers associated to radiation-resistance in breast cancer cell lines and studied the role of the resistant cells in the transmission of genomic instability. First, we show that irradiation induces a 2-4 weeks period of intense cell death leading to the emergence of chromosomal unstable cells during more than 35 population doublings. Then, among seven breast CSC markers, we identify CD24(-/low) labelling as a marker of radiation-resistance. We demonstrate that CD24(+) progeny of irradiated cells exclusively descends from CD24(-/low) cells. Finally, we show that delayed chromosomal instability is only expressed by CD24(+) cells, but is transmitted by stable surviving CD24(-/low) cells. So, for the first time a CSC marker, CD24, is associated with the transmission of genomic instability. This work may assign a new deleterious role to breast CSCs in aggressive recurrence after radiotherapy, as the transmitted genomic instability potentially leads tumour cells to acquire more aggressive characteristics. Oncogene (2013) 32, 251-258; doi:10.1038/onc.2012.31; published online 13 February 2012