Cancer stem cells (CSC) maintain both undifferentiated self-renewing CSCs and differentiated, non-self-renewing non-CSCs through cellular division. However, molecular mechanisms that maintain self-renewal in CSCs versus non-CSCs are not yet clear. Here, we report that in a transgenic mouse model of MYC-induced T-cell leukemia, MYC, maintains self-renewal in Sca1 þ CSCs versus Sca-1 À non-CSCs. MYC preferentially bound to the promoter and activated hypoxia-inducible factor-2a (HIF2a) in Sca-1 þ cells only. Furthermore, the reprogramming factors, Nanog and Sox2, facilitated MYC regulation of HIF2a in Sca-1 þ versus Sca-1 À cells. Reduced expression of HIF2a inhibited the self-renewal of Sca-1 þ cells; this effect was blocked through suppression of ROS by N-acetyl cysteine or the knockdown of p53, Nanog, or Sox2. Similar results were seen in ABCG2 þ CSCs versus ABCG2 À non-CSCs from primary human T-cell lymphoma. Thus, MYC maintains self-renewal exclusively in CSCs by selectively binding to the promoter and activating the HIF2a stemness pathway. Identification of this stemness pathway as a unique CSC determinant may have significant therapeutic implications.

We postulate that similar to bacteria, adult stem cells may also exhibit altruistic defense mechanism to protect their niche. Here, we provide preliminary data on the altruistic stem cell (ASC) based defense against a mouse corona virus; MHV-1 infection. In a mouse model of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) mediated M. tuberculosis (Mtb) dormancy, MHV-1 infection in the lung exhibited 20 fold lower viral loads than the healthy control mice, suggesting the potential enhancement of an anti-MHV-1 defense by Mtb. This defense involved the in vivo expansion and reprogramming of CD271+ MSCs in the lung to ASC phenotype characterized by activation of genes involved in the HIF-2alpha stemness pathway. The conditioned media of the ASCs exhibited direct anti-viral activity in an in vitro model of MHV-1 induced toxicity to type II alveolar epithelial cells. MHV-1 infected Mtb harboring group versus MHV-1 alone groupexhibited an 8-fold (p<0.02; n=4) higher ASC reprogramming and 5-fold (p<0.001; n=3, student t test) higher anti-viral activity. However, ASCs facilitated intracellular replication and extracellular release of Mtb. Thus, our data suggest that MSCs exert an innate defense against MHV-1 by activating the ASC defense mechanism, which might be exploited by dormant Mtb to undergo reactivation. Hence, our findings may provide a novel anti-viral defense mechanism against novel corona virus SARS-Cov2, which could be further utilized to develop vaccine