Department of Pathology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA.
Curr Stem Cell Res Ther. 2010 Mar;5(1):74-80. doi: 10.2174/157488810790442813.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to serve as a second messenger in the intracellular signal transduction pathway for a variety of cellular processes, including inflammation, cell cycle progression, apoptosis, aging and cancer. Recently, ROS have been found to be associated with tumor metastasis involving the processes of tumor cell migration, invasion and angiogenesis. Emerging evidence also suggests that Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), a process that is reminiscent of cancer stem cells, is an important step toward tumor invasion and metastasis, and intimately involved in de novo and acquired drug resistance. In light of recent advances, we are summarizing the role of ROS in EMT by cataloging how its deregulation is involved in EMT and tumor aggressiveness. Further attempts have been made to summarize the role of several chemopreventive agents that could be useful for targeted inactivation of ROS, suggesting that many natural agents could be useful for the reversal of EMT, which would become a novel approach for the prevention of tumor progression and/or treatment of human malignancies especially by killing EMT-type cells that shares similar characteristics with cancer stem cells.
活性氧 (ROS) 作为细胞内信号转导途径的第二信使，参与多种细胞过程，包括炎症、细胞周期进展、细胞凋亡、衰老和癌症。最近发现，ROS 与肿瘤转移有关，涉及肿瘤细胞迁移、侵袭和血管生成等过程。新出现的证据还表明，上皮-间充质转化 (EMT)，这一过程类似于癌症干细胞，是肿瘤侵袭和转移的重要步骤，并与新出现和获得性耐药密切相关。鉴于最近的进展，我们通过列举 ROS 失调如何参与 EMT 和肿瘤侵袭性，总结了 ROS 在 EMT 中的作用。还进一步总结了几种化学预防剂的作用，这些化学预防剂可能有助于 ROS 的靶向失活，这表明许多天然剂可能有助于 EMT 的逆转，这将成为预防肿瘤进展和/或治疗人类恶性肿瘤的新方法，特别是通过杀死具有与癌症干细胞相似特征的 EMT 型细胞。
