Cancer Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin, China.
Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2021;21(2):117-131. doi: 10.2174/1568009620666200504111914.
Tumor recurrence and drug resistance are two of the key factors affecting the prognosis of cancer patients. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a group of cells with infinite proliferation potential which are not sensitive to traditional therapies, including radio- and chemotherapy. These CSCs are considered to be central to tumor recurrence and the development of drug resistance. In addition, CSCs are important targets in cancer immunotherapy because of their expression of novel tumorassociated antigens, which result from mutations in cancer cells over the course of treatment. Emerging immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines, checkpoint blockade therapies, and transferred immune cell therapies, have all been shown to be more effective when they selectively target CSCs. Such therapies may also provide novel additions to the current therapeutic milieu and may offer new therapeutic combinations for treatment. This review summarizes the relationships between various immunotherapies and CSCs and provides novel insights into potential therapeutic applications for these approaches in the future.
肿瘤复发和耐药性是影响癌症患者预后的两个关键因素。癌症干细胞（CSC）是一群具有无限增殖潜能的细胞，对传统治疗方法（包括放射和化学疗法）不敏感。这些 CSC 被认为是肿瘤复发和耐药性发展的核心。此外，CSC 是癌症免疫治疗的重要靶点，因为它们表达新型肿瘤相关抗原，这些抗原是由于癌细胞在治疗过程中发生突变而产生的。新兴的免疫疗法，包括癌症疫苗、检查点阻断疗法和转移免疫细胞疗法，当它们选择性地靶向 CSC 时，都被证明更有效。这些疗法也可能为当前的治疗环境提供新的补充，并为治疗提供新的治疗组合。本综述总结了各种免疫疗法与 CSC 之间的关系，并为这些方法在未来的潜在治疗应用提供了新的见解。
