The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, Austin, MN, United States.
Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Universidade Federal do Piaui, Piauí, Brazil.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Feb 23;14:1083048. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1083048. eCollection 2023.
Heterogeneity is a complex feature of cells and tissues with many interacting components. Depending on the nature of the research context, interacting features of cellular, drug response, genetic, molecular, spatial, temporal, and vascular heterogeneity may be present. We describe the various forms of heterogeneity with examples of their interactions and how they play a role in affecting cellular phenotype and drug responses in breast cancer. While cellular heterogeneity may be the most widely described and invoked, many forms of heterogeneity are evident within the tumor microenvironment and affect responses to the endocrine and cytotoxic drugs widely used in standard clinical care. Drug response heterogeneity is a critical determinant of clinical response and curative potential and also is multifaceted when encountered. The interactive nature of some forms of heterogeneity is readily apparent. For example, the process of metastasis has the properties of both temporal and spatial heterogeneity within the host, whereas each individual metastatic deposit may exhibit cellular, genetic, molecular, and vascular heterogeneity. This review describes the many forms of heterogeneity, their integrated activities, and offers some insights into how heterogeneity may be understood and studied in the future.
异质性是细胞和组织的一个复杂特征，具有许多相互作用的组成部分。根据研究背景的性质，细胞、药物反应、遗传、分子、空间、时间和血管异质性的相互作用特征可能存在。我们描述了各种形式的异质性，并举例说明了它们的相互作用以及它们如何在影响乳腺癌细胞表型和药物反应方面发挥作用。虽然细胞异质性可能是最广泛描述和引用的，但肿瘤微环境中存在许多形式的异质性，它们会影响内分泌和细胞毒性药物在标准临床护理中的反应。药物反应异质性是临床反应和治疗潜力的关键决定因素，而且在遇到时也是多方面的。一些形式的异质性的相互作用性质是显而易见的。例如，转移过程在宿主内具有时间和空间异质性的特性，而每个单独的转移沉积物可能表现出细胞、遗传、分子和血管异质性。这篇综述描述了许多形式的异质性、它们的综合活动，并提供了一些关于如何在未来理解和研究异质性的见解。
