{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T12:45:02Z","timestamp":1792586702470,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"The Journal of Food and Drug Analysis (JFDA), Food and Drug Administration, Taiwan (TFDA)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]],"date-time":"2025-09-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758067200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Food and Drug Analysis"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death globally and discovering novel therapeuticagents to treat the disease, and prevent cancer metastasis and recurrence is an urgent medical need. Cancer stem cells(CSCs) capable of self-renewal and differentiation are generally considered the cause of tumor metastasis, recurrenceand chemoresistance. Hence, targeting CSCs may be a promising strategy for the treatment of cancer. GATA6, a zinc\ufb01nger transcription factor, contributes to tumorigenesis in CRC and is related to cancer stemness. GATA6-overexpressing stable clones OE4 and OE6 derived from HCT116 cells were previously established and exhibitedincreased stemness properties. In this study, we found that OE4 and OE6 cells displayed CSC-like properties, includinghigher expression levels of stemness-related proteins, increased sphere forming capacity and resistance to 5-\ufb02uorouracil.OE4 and OE6 cells also showed increased glucose uptake capacity, another hallmark of CSCs. Therefore, these two cellclones were employed as a CSC-like cell model to search for potential colorectal CSC-targeting drugs. Among severalcompounds tested, dihydroartemisinin (DHA), an antimalarial drug, exerted better anticancer activity toward OE4 andOE6 relative to the empty vector-transfected HCT116 cells. DHA also inhibited sphere formation and impaired glucosemetabolism. DHA induced G0\/G1 arrest and apoptosis. Moreover, DHA also induced reactive oxygen species andmitochondrial membrane potential loss. Thus, DHA caused mitochondrial damage which was con\ufb01rmed by Seahorsemitochondrial stress test. DHA also increased LC3B-II and PINK1 protein levels, indicative of autophagy\/mitophagy. Inconclusion, repurposing DHA may be a potential strategy against colorectal CSCs and further validation using in vivo models is warranted.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.38212\/2224-6614.3552","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,19]],"date-time":"2025-09-19T20:39:10Z","timestamp":1758314350000},"page":"276-290","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Repurposing dihydroartemisinin as a novel anticancer agent against colorectal cancer stem cells"],"prefix":"10.38212","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Meng-Han","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10050, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chieh-Ju","family":"Sung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10050, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fan-Lu","family":"Kung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10050, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jih-Hwa","family":"Guh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10050, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Shi-Pai, Taipei 11221, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lih-Ching","family":"Hsu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10050, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"25385","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]},"container-title":["Journal of Food and Drug Analysis"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T12:15:15Z","timestamp":1792584915000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.jfda-online.com\/journal\/vol33\/iss3\/7"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.38212\/2224-6614.3552","relation":{},"ISSN":["2224-6614"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2224-6614","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]}}}