Refaeli Yosef, Bhoumik Anindita, Roop Dennis R, Ronai Ze'ev A
Charles C Gates Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Program, Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.
EMBO Rep. 2009 Sep;10(9):965-72. doi: 10.1038/embor.2009.184. Epub 2009 Aug 14.
Most tumours contain a heterogeneous population of cancer cells, which harbour a range of genetic mutations and have probably undergone deregulated differentiation programmes that allow them to adapt to tumour microenvironments. Another explanation for tumour heterogeneity might be that the cells within a tumour are derived from tumour-initiating cells through diverse differentiation programmes. Tumour-initiating cells are thought to constitute one or more distinct subpopulations within a tumour and to drive tumour initiation, development and metastasis, as well as to be responsible for their recurrence after therapy. Recent studies have raised crucial questions about the nature, frequency and importance of melanoma-initiating cells. Here, we discuss our current understanding of melanoma-initiating cells and outline several approaches that the scientific community might consider to resolve the controversies surrounding these cells.
大多数肿瘤包含异质性的癌细胞群体，这些癌细胞具有一系列基因突变，并且可能经历了失调的分化程序，从而使它们能够适应肿瘤微环境。肿瘤异质性的另一种解释可能是肿瘤内的细胞通过不同的分化程序源自肿瘤起始细胞。肿瘤起始细胞被认为在肿瘤内构成一个或多个不同的亚群，驱动肿瘤的起始、发展和转移，并导致其在治疗后复发。最近的研究提出了关于黑色素瘤起始细胞的性质、频率和重要性的关键问题。在这里，我们讨论了我们目前对黑色素瘤起始细胞的理解，并概述了科学界可能考虑的几种方法，以解决围绕这些细胞的争议。
