Department of Oncology, Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Trends Cell Biol. 2011 Dec;21(12):727-35. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2011.06.005. Epub 2011 Jul 21.
Epithelial cells comprise the foundation for the majority of organs in the mammalian body, and are the source of approximately 90% of all human cancers. Characteristically, epithelial cells form intercellular adhesions, exhibit apical/basal polarity, and orient their mitotic spindles in the plane of the epithelial sheet. Defects in these attributes result in the tissue disorganization associated with cancer. Epithelia undergo self-renewal from stem cells, which might in some cases be the cell of origin for cancers. The PAR polarity proteins are master regulators of epithelial organization, and are closely linked to signaling pathways such as Hippo, which orchestrate proliferation and apoptosis to control organ size. 3D ex vivo culture systems can now faithfully recapitulate epithelial organ morphogenesis, providing a powerful approach to study both normal development and the initiating events in carcinogenesis.
上皮细胞构成了哺乳动物体内大多数器官的基础，并且约 90%的人类癌症都源于上皮细胞。典型地，上皮细胞形成细胞间连接，表现出顶端/基底极性，并使有丝分裂纺锤体在上皮片中的平面定向。这些特性的缺陷导致与癌症相关的组织紊乱。上皮细胞从干细胞中进行自我更新，在某些情况下，干细胞可能是癌症的起源细胞。PAR 极性蛋白是上皮组织形成的主要调节因子，与 Hippo 等信号通路密切相关，Hippo 协调增殖和凋亡以控制器官大小。现在，3D 体外培养系统可以忠实地再现上皮器官形态发生，为研究正常发育和致癌起始事件提供了一种强大的方法。
