Laboratory of Cancer Genetics, Digestive Diseases and Developmental Molecular Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007, USA.
Cancer Biol Ther. 2009 Sep;8(18):1691-8. doi: 10.4161/cbt.8.18.9843.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide, with a median survival of 6-16 m. Factors responsible for the poor prognosis include late onset diagnosis, underlying cirrhosis and resistance to chemotherapy; 40% of HCCs are clonal and therefore potentially arise from progenitor/stem cells. New insights are provided from several signaling pathways, such as STAT3, NOTCH, hedgehog and transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta), which are involved in stem cell renewal, differentiation, survival, and are commonly deregulated in HCC. Control of stem cell proliferation by the TGFbeta, Notch, Wnt and Hedgehog pathways to suppress hepatocellular cancer and to form the endoderm suggest a dual role for this pathway in tumor suppression as well as progression of differentiation from a stem or progenitor stage. This review provides a rationale for detecting and analyzing tumor stem cells as one of the most effective ways to treat cancers such as hepatocellular cancer.
肝细胞癌(HCC)是全球第五大常见癌症,中位生存期为 6-16 个月。导致预后不良的因素包括发病较晚、潜在肝硬化和对化疗的耐药性;40%的 HCC 是克隆的,因此可能来自祖细胞/干细胞。来自几个信号通路的新见解,如 STAT3、NOTCH、hedgehog 和转化生长因子-β(TGFβ),这些通路参与干细胞更新、分化、存活,并且在 HCC 中通常失调。TGFβ、Notch、Wnt 和 Hedgehog 通路对干细胞增殖的控制以抑制肝癌并形成内胚层,这表明该通路在肿瘤抑制以及从干细胞或祖细胞阶段分化进展中具有双重作用。本综述提供了检测和分析肿瘤干细胞的基本原理,这是治疗肝癌等癌症的最有效方法之一。