虽然常见的癌症疗法,比如化疗和放疗,最近有所改善并取得了良好的效果,评估为肿瘤缩小,疾病复发仍然是大多数癌症患者的常见事件.这被称为难治性癌症。这种肿瘤在治疗后的再生长通常被认为是由一个小的,称为癌症干细胞(CSC)的特定肿瘤细胞群。类似于其他干细胞,CSC具有自我更新和多能分化的能力,基于细胞表面蛋白的表达,它们已经在许多肿瘤类型中被鉴定出来。如通过在动物模型中的连续移植所检查的,该特定细胞群具有干性特征。先前的研究已经开发了细胞表面标志物和生物学功能的特定特征,可以在许多实体瘤中鉴定CSC。在这次审查中,我们总结了使用新技术对CSC进行原位鉴定和定量的表征。这些技术和概念对于评估治疗对该细胞群的影响可能是有价值的。最后,最后,我们讨论了几种针对CSC的独特临床前治疗策略,例如重编程CSC或诱导免疫细胞的攻击。可以靶向和量化CSC的治疗和诊断方法将是根除难治性癌症的有价值的工具。
Although common cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, have recently improved and yielded good results, evaluated as tumor shrinkage, disease recurrence is still a common event for most cancer patients. This is termed refractory cancer. This tumor regrowth following therapy is generally thought to be caused by a small, specific population of tumor cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs). Similar to other stem cells, CSCs have the capacity for self-renewal and multipotent differentiation, and they have been identified in many tumor types based on cell surface protein expression. This specific cell population has stemness characteristics as examined by serial transplantation in animal models. Previous studies have developed a specific signature of cell surface markers and biological functions that can identify CSCs in many solid tumors. In this review, we summarize the characterization of CSCs using new techniques for identifying and quantifying them in situ. These techniques and concepts could be valuable for evaluating the effects of therapies on this cell population. Finally, we conclude by discussing several unique preclinical treatment strategies to targets CSCs, such as reprogramming CSCs or inducing attack by immune cells. Therapeutic and diagnostic methodologies that can target and quantify CSCs will be valuable tools for eradicating refractory cancer.