Wu Ting-yu, Cui Long
Department of Colorectal Surgery, Shanghai Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China.
Zhonghua Wei Chang Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2013 Mar;16(3):297-300.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) as a common malignancy in the digestive tract, its incidence and mortality increase significantly in China. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as a small fraction of tumor initiating cells that are endowed with both self-renewal and tumor growth potential. They may be responsible for tumor progression, metastasis, relapse and drug-resistance. Therefore, the isolation and characterization of tumorigenic CSCs in CRC may help to devise novel diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This review briefly discusses the most recent advances in research on colorectal cancer stem cells including definition of the cancer stem cells, origin and specific markers of the colorectal CSCs. Transduction signal pathway involved in CSCs, potential therapeutic strategies targeting CSCs, and current issues in CSCs related research are also discussed.
结直肠癌（CRC）是消化道常见的恶性肿瘤，在中国其发病率和死亡率显著上升。癌症干细胞（CSCs）被定义为一小部分具有自我更新和肿瘤生长潜能的肿瘤起始细胞。它们可能与肿瘤进展、转移、复发及耐药性有关。因此，分离和鉴定结直肠癌中具有致瘤性的CSCs可能有助于设计新的诊断和治疗方法。本文综述简要讨论了结直肠癌干细胞研究的最新进展，包括癌症干细胞的定义、结直肠癌干细胞的起源和特异性标志物。还讨论了涉及CSCs的转导信号通路、针对CSCs的潜在治疗策略以及CSCs相关研究中的当前问题。
