Liver cancer stem cells (CSCs) are resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiation, which may destroy tumor masses, but not all liver CSCs contribute to tumor initiation, metastasis, and relapse. In the present study, we showed that liver CSCs with elevated Wnt/β-catenin signaling possess much greater self-renewal and clonogenic potential. We further documented that the increased clonogenic potential of liver CSCs is highly associated with changes in Wnt/β-catenin signaling and that Wnt/β-catenin signaling activity is positively correlated with CD133 expression and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymatic activity. Notably, the small molecule inhibitor CWP232228, which antagonizes the binding of β-catenin to TCF in the nucleus, inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signaling and depletes CD133+/ALDH+ liver CSCs, thus ultimately diminishing the self-renewal capacity of CSCs and decreasing tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our findings suggest that CWP232228 acts as a candidate therapeutic agent for liver cancer by preferentially targeting liver CSCs.

The present study aimed to determine the difference between the clinical tumor stage (T stage) based on pre-operative ultrasound and the histopathological T stage subsequent to surgery in vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VABB)-diagnosed breast cancer. Tumor sizes measured ultrasonography (USG) and histologically were retrospectively calculated and analyzed using paired t-tests in 209 patients diagnosed with breast cancer using VABB. The patients were classified into two groups, consisting of breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) category 4a or below, who underwent complete resection by VABB, and BI-RADS category 4b or above, who underwent incisional biopsy by VABB. The histopathological tumor size was found to be smaller compared with the USG-determined size in 92.3% of pT1a, 75.5% of pT1b, 44.2% of pT1c, 47.7% of pT2 and 0% of pT3 cases. Furthermore, the histopathological tumor size was smaller compared with the USG-determined size in 62.8% of cases classified as BI-RADS category 3–4a and in 53.7% of cases classified as BI-RADS category 4b-5. The smaller the primary tumor at the time of diagnosis by VABB, the higher the likelihood of pathological underestimation on post-operative histopathological assessment compared to pre-operative USG.