胰腺癌干细胞的研究进展

Recent Progress on Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells

目的总结有关胰腺癌干细胞的研究进展并明确今后的研究方向。方法收集国内、外近年来有关胰腺癌干细胞的文献并进行综述。结果胰腺癌恶性程度高,早期诊断困难,缺乏有效治疗手段。近年来的研究发现,胰腺癌中存在异质性细胞,这些细胞具有干细胞的性质,该细胞亚群在胰腺癌的发生、增殖、转移和耐药中发挥重要作用,通常利用细胞表面的特异标志物来鉴别胰腺癌干细胞。另外,研究还发现,胰腺癌干细胞内的一些维持自我更新和转移的信号通道表达异常。结论针对干细胞的治疗是可行的,深入了解胰腺癌干细胞的生物学行为将为胰腺癌的诊断和治疗提供新的策略和手段。

Objective To review the recent advances in the pancreatic cancer stem cells field and identify the research trend in future.Methods Current literatures on pancreatic cancer stem cells were collected and reviewed.Results Pancreatic cancer was a highly lethal disease and was usually diagnosed at a late stage,for which there were few effective therapies.Emerging evidence had suggested that pancreatic cancer cells proposed a heterogeneous organization.A subpopulation of stem cell-like cells sustains tumor growth,propagation,metastasis,and resistance to standard chemotherapy.Cancer stem cells were identified based on their expression of different sets of cell surface markers and functional characteristics.Some important signaling pathways which maintain self-renewal and metastasis were upregulated in pancreatic cancer stem cells.Conclusions Current findings clearly suggest that specific elimination of cancer stem cells is possible and therapeutically relevant.An improved understanding of the biological behavior of such cells may lead to the development of novel diagnosis and treatment regimens for pancreatic cancer.