European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, University of Cardiff, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, United Kingdom.
Cancer Lett. 2013 Sep 10;338(1):57-62. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2012.04.023. Epub 2012 Apr 30.
Only a fraction of the cells in a breast tumour are able to seed new tumour growth. These so-called breast cancer stem cells (bCSCs) are characterised by a number of discrete functional properties, some of which impact on therapeutic strategies aimed at eliminating these cells from tumours. Here we discuss how recent experimental evidence indicates that phenotypic plasticity is a central feature of tumour cell heterogeneity and drug resistance, traits that must be overcome in order to efficiently target bCSCs as a therapy for breast cancer. We propose that a better understanding of this fundamental property of breast cancer stem cells, over and above their identification in tumours, is a priority for improvement of patient survival.
只有乳腺癌肿瘤中的一小部分细胞能够形成新的肿瘤生长。这些所谓的乳腺癌干细胞（bCSCs）具有许多离散的功能特性，其中一些特性会影响旨在从肿瘤中消除这些细胞的治疗策略。在这里，我们讨论了最近的实验证据如何表明表型可塑性是肿瘤细胞异质性和耐药性的核心特征，为了有效地将 bCSCs 作为乳腺癌的治疗靶点，这些特征必须克服。我们提出，为了提高患者的生存率，除了在肿瘤中鉴定 bCSCs 之外，更好地理解乳腺癌干细胞的这一基本特性是当务之急。
