肿瘤干细胞的调控机制及其临床意义

Regulatory mechanism of cancer stem cells and their clinical significance

肿瘤干细胞是存在于肿瘤组织中的少部分具有干细胞性质的细胞群,其自我更新和分化受到严格的调控。肿瘤干细胞是肿瘤形成、复发与转移的根源。目前,对于肿瘤干细胞的调控机制存在着若干理论,包括异常信号传导通路、非整倍核型发生、原癌基因激活与抑癌基因失活和端粒酶耗损理论等。通过研究肿瘤干细胞的各种调控机制,寻找和鉴定特异性的肿瘤干细胞表面分子标志物,寻找肿瘤干细胞与肿瘤发生密切相关的基因,确定出针对肿瘤干细胞进行治疗的靶位并选择性地杀伤肿瘤干细胞,从而为临床可能根治肿瘤和防止肿瘤复发与转移提供新的思路。

Cancer stem cells are a small number of cells with the nature of stem cells in tumor tissue, their self-renewal and differentiation are under strict control. Cancer stem cells are the cause of tumor formation, recurrence and metastasis. At present, there are various researches of regulatory and control mechanisms of the cancer stem cells, including abnormal signal transduction, aneuploidy in the nucleus, the proto-oncogene activation and inactivation of tumor suppressor gene, as well as the telomerase depletion theory. Through these researches, we can search for and identify the specific cancer stem cell surface molecular markers, identify the genes closely related to cancer stem cells and tumor, determine target site of cancer stem cells treatment and selective anti-tumor stem cells, so as to offer new ideas for cure cancer and prevent tumor recurrence and the metastasis in clinics.