Department of Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas at Houston, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Antioxid Redox Signal. 2009 May;11(5):1107-22. doi: 10.1089/ars.2008.2308.
The existence of cancer stem cells has impelled the pursuit to understanding and characterizing this subset of cells, which are thought to be responsible for tumor recurrence and to contribute to therapy resistance. Recent studies suggest that cancer stem cells seem to possess properties similar to those of normal stem cells, revealing a possible therapeutic strategy/target. For this to be feasible, it is imperative to understand the relation between cancer cells, cancer stem cells, and normal stem cells. Cancer cells have been found to be in a state of redox imbalance, an alteration in the homeostasis between oxidants and antioxidants, resulting in increased oxidants within the cell. Studies have shown redox balance plays an important role in the maintenance of stem cell self-renewal and in differentiation. Very little is known about the redox status in cancer stem cells. In this review, we focus on the sites of oxidant generation and the regulation of redox status in cancer cells and stem cells. In addition, evidence that supports the involvement of redox homeostasis for stem cell self-renewal, differentiation, and survival are reviewed. Given the significance of redox in stem cells, we also discuss the possibility of exploiting the redox status in cancer stem cells as a novel therapeutic strategy.
癌症干细胞的存在促使人们去理解和描绘这类细胞亚群，这些细胞被认为是肿瘤复发的根源，并导致了治疗耐药性。最近的研究表明，癌症干细胞似乎具有与正常干细胞相似的特性，这揭示了一种可能的治疗策略/靶点。为了使这成为可能，必须要理解癌细胞、癌症干细胞和正常干细胞之间的关系。已经发现癌细胞处于氧化还原失衡的状态，即氧化剂和抗氧化剂之间的内稳态发生改变，导致细胞内氧化剂增加。研究表明，氧化还原平衡在维持干细胞自我更新和分化中起着重要作用。关于癌症干细胞中的氧化还原状态，我们知之甚少。在这篇综述中，我们重点关注氧化剂生成的部位和癌细胞及干细胞中氧化还原状态的调节。此外，还回顾了支持氧化还原稳态对干细胞自我更新、分化和存活的证据。鉴于氧化还原在干细胞中的重要性，我们还讨论了利用癌症干细胞中的氧化还原状态作为一种新的治疗策略的可能性。
