Cancer stem cells and sarcoma

In this proposal we will test the hypothesis that the physiologic progenitor cell of mesodermal derivatives, the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC), is the cell of origin for a diverse population of sarcomas. We will isolate MSC based upon their functional activation of a marker gene (GFP) through Wnt/beta-catenin signal transduction. We will test a highly enriched MSC population for clonal self-renewal in vitro, and for tumor initiating capacity in vivo. The objective of this proposal is to create a xenogenic model of human sarcoma in the immune deficient Rag2 mouse for studies on the initiation/promotion of sarcoma.