Zhu Ya-Yun, Yuan Zhou
Department of Surgery, Shanghai Jiaotong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, 200233, China.
Am J Cancer Res. 2015 Feb 15;5(3):894-906. eCollection 2015.
Studies are emerging in support of the cancer stem cells (CSCs) theory which considers that a tiny subset of cancer cells is exclusively responsible for the initiation and malignant behavior of a cancer. This cell population, also termed CSCs, possesses the capacity both to self-renew, producing progeny that have the identical tumorigenic potential, and to differentiate into the bulk of cancer cells, helping serve the formation of the tumor entities, which, altogether, build the hierarchically organized structure of a cancer. In this review, we try to articulate the complicated signaling pathways regulating the retention of the characteristics of pancreatic CSCs, and in the wake of which, we seek to offer insights into the CSCs-relevant targeted therapeutics which are, in the meantime, confronted with bigger challenges than ever.
越来越多的研究支持癌症干细胞（CSCs）理论，该理论认为一小部分癌细胞专门负责癌症的起始和恶性行为。这个细胞群体，也被称为癌症干细胞，具有自我更新的能力，产生具有相同致瘤潜力的后代，并且能够分化为大部分癌细胞，有助于肿瘤实体的形成，这些共同构建了癌症的分层组织结构。在这篇综述中，我们试图阐明调节胰腺癌症干细胞特性维持的复杂信号通路，在此之后，我们寻求深入了解与癌症干细胞相关的靶向治疗方法，而与此同时，这些治疗方法正面临着前所未有的更大挑战。
