Failure of
cancer treatment caused by drug resistance and
metastasis is mainly due to existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Therefore, targeting CSCs to overcome
cancers is a challenging issue in clinic. In this report, in view of the important role of
survivin in
tumor growth and CSCs maintaining, we aimed to confirm that
FL118, as a novel
survivin inhibitor, may effectively inhibit
lung cancer stem cells. We showed that
lung cancer stem cells have the obviously higher expression of
survivin than their parental cells. After treated with
FL118, the
survivin level in CSCs was suppressed. Consistently,
lung cancer stem cells displayed significantly growth inhibition over time. Here, we compared the antitumor efficacy between
FL118 and
cisplatin. The data revealed that CSCs are more sensitive to
FL118 than
cisplatin. To further demonstrate the inhibitory effect of
FL118 on CSCs, we found that
FL118 down-regulated the expression of CSCs markers (ABCG2, ALDH1A1, Oct4) and
drug resistant
proteins (P-gp, ERCC1), suggesting that
FL118 may change CSCs phenotype and improve
drug-sensitivity of
tumor cells. Moreover,
FL118 effectively decreased the invasive ability of CSCs. These findings expand the uniqueness of
FL118 as an attractive therapeutic option for
cancers with
drug-resistant or metastatic potential.