Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2012 Nov 1;12(9):1081-94. doi: 10.2174/156800912803987995.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common human cancers. HCC is a chemoresistant cancer and the current drug therapy has limited efficacy. As a result, the prognosis of HCC patients is generally poor. Recent studies have demonstrated that a subpopulation of cancer cells with stem cell properties, called cancer stem cells (CSCs), are responsible for growth and metastasis of cancer. CSCs characterized by several markers including CD133, CD44, CD90, OV6, Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and CD13 have been isolated from different human HCC cell lines or specimens. CSCs share many of the signaling pathways found in normal stem cells, such as Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch and Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) pathways. These pathways are involved in self-renewal, differentiation and survival of CSCs. There is evidence of deregulation of these pathways in HCC CSCs. MicroRNAs also play an important role in regulating signaling pathways in HCC, and recent data suggested an important role of microRNA in CSCs of HCC. Therapeutic targeting of CSCs may provide a novel strategy that is more effective than the current drugs targeting the bulk mature cancer cells in treatment of HCC.
肝细胞癌（HCC）是最常见的人类癌症之一。HCC 是一种化疗耐药性癌症，目前的药物治疗效果有限。因此，HCC 患者的预后通常较差。最近的研究表明，具有干细胞特性的癌细胞亚群，称为癌症干细胞（CSCs），负责癌症的生长和转移。CSCs 的特征是具有多种标记物，包括 CD133、CD44、CD90、OV6、上皮细胞黏附分子（EpCAM）和 CD13，这些标记物已从不同的人 HCC 细胞系或标本中分离出来。CSCs 与正常干细胞中发现的许多信号通路共享，如 Wnt、Hedgehog、Notch 和转化生长因子-β（TGF-β）通路。这些通路参与 CSCs 的自我更新、分化和存活。有证据表明 HCC CSCs 中这些通路的失调。microRNAs 也在调节 HCC 中的信号通路中发挥重要作用，最近的数据表明 microRNA 在 HCC 的 CSCs 中具有重要作用。针对 CSCs 的治疗可能提供一种比针对大量成熟癌细胞的现有药物更有效的新型策略，用于 HCC 的治疗。
