Regenbrecht C, Welte Y, Hugel R, Trefzer U, Losch F O, Adjaye J, Walden P
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany.
Ecancermedicalscience. 2008;2:114. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2008.114. Epub 2008 Dec 1.
The identification of cancer stem cells in various malignancies led to the hypothesis that these cells have the exclusive ability of self-renewal, contribute to the plasticity of the tumours and may be the cause for ineffective cancer therapies. Several markers of melanoma stem cells have been described in recent studies including CD133, CD166, Nestin and BMI-1. Further studies are necessary to identify, better define and understand the origin and function of cancer stem cells. If confirmed that cancer stem cells play an important role in malignancy, therapeutic strategies may need to be redirected towards these cells to circumvent the failure of conventional therapies.
在各种恶性肿瘤中对癌症干细胞的鉴定引发了这样一种假说，即这些细胞具有独特的自我更新能力，促成肿瘤的可塑性，并且可能是癌症治疗无效的原因。近期研究中已描述了几种黑色素瘤干细胞标志物，包括CD133、CD166、巢蛋白和BMI-1。有必要开展进一步研究以识别、更明确地界定并了解癌症干细胞的起源和功能。如果证实癌症干细胞在恶性肿瘤中发挥重要作用，那么治疗策略可能需要转向这些细胞，以避免传统疗法的失败。
