Arkadi M Rywlin MD Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
J Clin Pathol. 2020 May;73(5):243-249. doi: 10.1136/jclinpath-2019-206246. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary intracranial neoplasm diagnosed in childhood. Although numerous efforts have been made during the past few years to exploit novel targeted therapies for this aggressive neoplasm, there still exist substantial hitches hindering successful management of MB. Lately, progress in cancer biology has shown evidence that a subpopulation of cells within the tumour, namely cancer stem cells (CSCs), are thought to be responsible for the resistance to most chemotherapeutic agents and radiation therapy, accounting for cancer recurrence. Hence, it is crucial to identify the molecular signatures and genetic aberrations that characterise those CSCs and develop therapies that specifically target them. In this review, we aim to give an overview of the main genetic and molecular cues that depict MB-CSCs and provide a synopsis of the novel therapeutic approaches that specifically target this population of cells to attain enhanced antitumorous effects and therefore overcome resistance to therapy.
髓母细胞瘤（MB）是儿童期诊断的最常见的恶性原发性颅内肿瘤。尽管在过去几年中，人们为开发这种侵袭性肿瘤的新型靶向治疗方法做出了许多努力，但仍存在许多障碍阻碍了 MB 的成功治疗。最近，癌症生物学的进展表明，肿瘤内的一个细胞亚群，即癌症干细胞（CSC），被认为是对大多数化疗药物和放射治疗产生耐药性的原因，导致癌症复发。因此，确定能够表征这些 CSC 的分子特征和遗传异常，并开发专门针对这些细胞的治疗方法以获得增强的抗肿瘤效果从而克服治疗耐药性至关重要。在这篇综述中，我们旨在概述描绘 MB-CSC 的主要遗传和分子线索，并概述专门针对该细胞群的新型治疗方法，以达到增强抗肿瘤效果并因此克服治疗耐药性的目的。
