Vincent Audrey, Van Seuningen Isabelle
Inserm, UMR837, Jean-Pierre Aubert Research Centre, Team 5 "Mucins, epithelial differentiation and carcinogenesis", Lille, France.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2012 Aug;1826(1):83-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2012.03.009. Epub 2012 Apr 1.
Epigenetic mechanisms are the key component of the dynamic transcriptional programming that occurs along the process of differentiation from normal stem cells to more specialized cells. In the development of cancer and according to the cancer stem cell model, aberrant epigenetic changes may ensure the property of cancer cells to switch cancer stem cell markers on and off in order to generate a heterogeneous population of cells. The tumour will then be composed of tumourigenic (cancer stem cells) and non-tumourigenic (the side population that constitutes the bulk of the tumour) cells. Characterizing epigenetic landscapes may thus help discriminate aberrant marks (good candidates for tumour detection) from cancer stem cell specific profiles. In this review, we will give some insights about what epigenetics can teach us about the origin of cancer stem cells. We will also discuss how identification of epigenetic reprogramming may help designing new drugs that will specifically target cancer stem cells.
表观遗传机制是动态转录编程的关键组成部分，这种编程发生在从正常干细胞分化为更特化细胞的过程中。在癌症发展过程中，根据癌症干细胞模型，异常的表观遗传变化可能确保癌细胞具有开启和关闭癌症干细胞标志物的特性，从而产生异质性细胞群体。肿瘤将由致瘤性细胞（癌症干细胞）和非致瘤性细胞（构成肿瘤主体的侧群细胞）组成。因此，表征表观遗传景观可能有助于区分异常标记（肿瘤检测的良好候选标记）与癌症干细胞特异性特征。在这篇综述中，我们将深入探讨表观遗传学能为我们揭示癌症干细胞起源的哪些信息。我们还将讨论表观遗传重编程的鉴定如何有助于设计专门针对癌症干细胞的新药。
