Bu Yiwen, Cao Deliang
Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology, Simmons Cancer Institute, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL 62794, USA.
Front Biosci (Schol Ed). 2012 Jan 1;4(3):819-30. doi: 10.2741/s302.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs), also known as tumor-initiating cells (TICs), are cancer cells that possess capability of proliferation, differentiation, and self-renewal. It is widely believed that CSCs play critical role in the initiation, metastasis, and relapse of cancers, but the origin of CSCs remains unclear. Up to date, several hypotheses have been described, and cell fusion and horizontal gene transfer, which may occur during development and tissue repair process, are considered as important origins of CSCs. In addition, critical gene mutations in stem cells, progenitor cells or even differentiated cells may also contribute to the formation of CSCs, and cell microenvironment is critical to CSC self-renewal and differentiation. The ongoing efforts to identify the CSCs origins may shed more light on understanding of cancer initiation and progression, as well as the development of novel cancer therapies.
癌症干细胞（CSCs），也被称为肿瘤起始细胞（TICs），是具有增殖、分化和自我更新能力的癌细胞。人们普遍认为，癌症干细胞在癌症的起始、转移和复发中起着关键作用，但癌症干细胞的起源仍不清楚。到目前为止，已经描述了几种假说，在发育和组织修复过程中可能发生的细胞融合和水平基因转移被认为是癌症干细胞的重要起源。此外，干细胞、祖细胞甚至分化细胞中的关键基因突变也可能导致癌症干细胞的形成，而细胞微环境对癌症干细胞的自我更新和分化至关重要。正在进行的确定癌症干细胞起源的努力可能会为理解癌症的起始和进展以及新型癌症治疗方法的开发提供更多线索。
