Lendeckel Uwe, Wolke Carmen
Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University Medicine Greifswald, D-17475 Greifswald, Germany.
Biomedicines. 2022 Sep 27;10(10):2413. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10102413.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a small subset of slowly dividing cells with tumor-initiating ability. They can self-renew and differentiate into all the distinct cell populations within a tumor. CSCs are naturally resistant to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. CSCs, thus, can repopulate a tumor after therapy and are responsible for recurrence of disease. Stemness manifests itself through, among other things, the expression of stem cell markers, the ability to induce sphere formation and tumor growth in vivo, and resistance to chemotherapeutics and irradiation. Stemness is maintained by keeping levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) low, which is achieved by enhanced activity of antioxidant pathways. Here, cellular sources of ROS, antioxidant pathways employed by CSCs, and underlying mechanisms to overcome resistance are discussed.
癌症干细胞（CSCs）是一小部分具有肿瘤起始能力的缓慢分裂细胞。它们能够自我更新并分化为肿瘤内所有不同的细胞群体。癌症干细胞对化疗或放疗具有天然抗性。因此，癌症干细胞可在治疗后重新填充肿瘤并导致疾病复发。干性通过多种方式表现出来，包括干细胞标志物的表达、在体内诱导球体形成和肿瘤生长的能力，以及对化疗药物和辐射的抗性。通过保持活性氧（ROS）水平低来维持干性，这是通过增强抗氧化途径的活性来实现的。在此，将讨论ROS的细胞来源、癌症干细胞所采用的抗氧化途径以及克服抗性的潜在机制。
