Zhao Linxian, Zhang Kai, He Hongyu, Yang Yongping, Li Wei, Liu Tongjun, Li Jiannan
Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Operating Theater and Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Oct 12;9:731393. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.731393. eCollection 2021.
Tumor dormancy, a state of tumor, is clinically undetectable and the outgrowth of dormant tumor cells into overt metastases is responsible for cancer-associated deaths. However, the dormancy-related molecular mechanism has not been clearly described. Some researchers have proposed that cancer stem cells (CSCs) and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) can be seen as progenitor cells of tumor dormancy, both of which can remain dormant in a non-permissive soil/niche. Nowadays, research interest in the cancer biology field is skyrocketing as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are capable of regulating tumor dormancy, which will provide a unique therapeutic window to cure cancer. Although the influence of MSCs on tumor dormancy has been investigated in previous studies, there is no thorough review on the relationship between MSCs and tumor dormancy. In this paper, the root of tumor dormancy is analyzed and dormancy-related molecular mechanisms are summarized. With an emphasis on the role of the MSCs during tumor dormancy, new therapeutic strategies to prevent metastatic disease are proposed, whose clinical application potentials are discussed, and some challenges and prospects of the studies of tumor dormancy are also described.
肿瘤休眠是肿瘤的一种状态，临床上无法检测到，而休眠肿瘤细胞发展为明显的转移灶是癌症相关死亡的原因。然而，与休眠相关的分子机制尚未得到清晰描述。一些研究人员提出，癌症干细胞（CSCs）和播散肿瘤细胞（DTCs）可被视为肿瘤休眠的祖细胞，二者都能在不适合的“土壤”/微环境中保持休眠状态。如今，随着间充质干细胞（MSCs）能够调节肿瘤休眠，癌症生物学领域的研究兴趣急剧上升，这将为治愈癌症提供一个独特的治疗窗口。尽管此前的研究已对MSCs对肿瘤休眠的影响进行了调查，但尚未对MSCs与肿瘤休眠之间的关系进行全面综述。本文分析了肿瘤休眠的根源，总结了与休眠相关的分子机制。重点阐述了MSCs在肿瘤休眠过程中的作用，提出了预防转移性疾病的新治疗策略，并讨论了其临床应用潜力，还描述了肿瘤休眠研究的一些挑战和前景。
