Civenni Gianluca, Sommer Lukas
Cell and Developmental Biology, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Semin Cancer Biol. 2009 Apr;19(2):68-75. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2008.11.003. Epub 2008 Nov 25.
Chemokines regulate proliferation and migration of various types of normal stem and progenitor cells, including precursor cells of neuroectodermal origin. Based on this it is conceivable that the established role of chemokines in cancer cell proliferation and organ-specific metastasis might also be associated with stem cell-like cells present in the tumor. Such cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a small subpopulation of tumor cells that are thought to initiate and sustain tumor formation. More recently, characteristics of stem cells have also been observed in metastatic cancer cells, and it has been suggested that CSCs might play a crucial role in the metastatic process as such. Intriguingly, first evidence has been provided that the metastatic spread of specific CSCs is driven by chemokine signaling. Thus it is possible that chemokine-mediated CSC regulation might be a general feature of metastasis formation.
趋化因子调节各种类型正常干细胞和祖细胞的增殖与迁移，包括神经外胚层来源的前体细胞。基于此，可以设想趋化因子在癌细胞增殖和器官特异性转移中已确立的作用可能也与肿瘤中存在的干细胞样细胞有关。这类癌症干细胞（CSCs）代表了一小部分肿瘤细胞亚群，被认为启动并维持肿瘤形成。最近，在转移性癌细胞中也观察到了干细胞的特征，并且有人提出癌症干细胞可能在转移过程中本身就发挥着关键作用。有趣的是，已有首个证据表明特定癌症干细胞的转移扩散是由趋化因子信号传导驱动的。因此，趋化因子介导的癌症干细胞调节可能是转移形成的一个普遍特征。
