Nagare Rohit P, Sneha Smarakan, Priya Syama Krishna, Ganesan Trivadi S
Laboratory for Cancer Biology, Department of Medical Oncology and Clinical Research, Cancer Institute (W.I.A), 38, Sardar Patel Road, Chennai, Tamilnadu, Pin: 600 036, India.
Curr Stem Cell Res Ther. 2017;12(1):37-44. doi: 10.2174/1574888x11666160607211436.
The identification of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) in leukemia has opened a new field in cancer research. This has led to the identification of similar cells in other types of cancer. CSCs express distinct surface markers and functional properties which distinguish them from the rest of the cells within a tumor. Due to variability in identification of CSCs in a particular type of cancer (except brain, breast and leukemia), surface markers alone may not be sufficient. It is critical to identify and isolate this small population of cells from the heterogeneous tumors to understand their pathogenesis. Identification of surface markers together with intrinsic properties of CSCs like colony formation, Hoechst exclusion or ALDEFLUOR assay may be useful in isolating more primitive and highly pure CSCs from a heterogeneous population of malignant cells. This review critically analyses various techniques and methods along with their advantages and disadvantages that are employed in identifying CSCs from different types of cancers.
白血病中癌症干细胞（CSCs）的鉴定开启了癌症研究的一个新领域。这进而促使人们在其他类型癌症中鉴定出类似细胞。癌症干细胞表达独特的表面标志物和功能特性，这些特性将它们与肿瘤内的其他细胞区分开来。由于在特定类型癌症（脑癌、乳腺癌和白血病除外）中癌症干细胞鉴定存在变异性，仅靠表面标志物可能并不足够。从异质性肿瘤中识别并分离出这一小部分细胞对于理解其发病机制至关重要。将表面标志物与癌症干细胞的内在特性（如集落形成、Hoechst拒染或ALDEFLUOR检测）相结合，可能有助于从异质性恶性细胞群体中分离出更原始、纯度更高的癌症干细胞。本综述批判性地分析了用于从不同类型癌症中鉴定癌症干细胞的各种技术和方法及其优缺点。
