Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2017;1041:207-233. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-69194-7_11.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play important role in tumor growth and metastasis coupled with increased recurrences and acquired therapeutic resistance in oral cancer. The tumor microenvironment imposes intense pressure in cancer evolution in response to adverse growth conditions, resource limitation and immune predation. Here, we discussed the dynamic interplay between cancer stem cells and tumor microenvironment in the formation of intratumoral heterogeneity to modulate tumor progression. The CSCs niche provide a special microhabitat for survival, maintenance of stemness and tumor re-propagation. Moreover, adaptive cellular behavior might be driven by tough tumor microenvironmental selective forces which highly regulate alterations in the gene expression leading to the reprogramming of signaling pathways generating stem-like characteristics, adaptive metabolic plasticity and energy fueling with autophagy to permit the CSCs to sustain in the ever changing microenvironments during tumor progression. On the other hand, CSCs also direct the tumor microenvironment modulation and remodeling in its favour. The cytokines, chemokines and growth factors released from CSCs regulates neoangiogensis, differentiation, degradation of matrix protein and immune suppression favoring tumor-promoting conditions and initiates multiple signaling cascades augmenting the tumor progression.
癌症干细胞（CSCs）在肿瘤生长和转移中发挥重要作用，同时增加了口腔癌的复发和获得性治疗耐药性。肿瘤微环境在应对不利的生长条件、资源限制和免疫捕食时，对癌症进化施加了巨大的压力。在这里，我们讨论了癌症干细胞和肿瘤微环境之间的动态相互作用，以调节肿瘤进展。CSC 的生态位为生存、维持干性和肿瘤再增殖提供了一个特殊的微环境。此外，适应性细胞行为可能是由艰难的肿瘤微环境选择压力驱动的，这些压力高度调节基因表达的改变，导致信号通路的重编程，产生类似干细胞的特征、适应性代谢可塑性和自噬供能，以使 CSCs 在肿瘤进展过程中不断变化的微环境中维持生存。另一方面，CSCs 也指导肿瘤微环境的调节和重塑以适应其需要。CSCs 释放的细胞因子、趋化因子和生长因子调节着新生血管生成、分化、基质蛋白的降解和免疫抑制，有利于促进肿瘤的条件，并启动多个信号级联反应，增强肿瘤的进展。
