Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
J Transl Med. 2023 Oct 2;21(1):686. doi: 10.1186/s12967-023-04575-9.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have emerged as key contributors to tumor initiation, growth, and metastasis. In addition, CSCs play a significant role in inducing immune evasion, thereby compromising the effectiveness of cancer treatments. The reciprocal communication between CSCs and the tumor microenvironment (TME) is observed, with the TME providing a supportive niche for CSC survival and self-renewal, while CSCs, in turn, influence the polarization and persistence of the TME, promoting an immunosuppressive state. Consequently, these interactions hinder the efficacy of current cancer therapies, necessitating the exploration of novel therapeutic approaches to modulate the TME and target CSCs. In this review, we highlight the intricate strategies employed by CSCs to evade immune surveillance and develop resistance to therapies. Furthermore, we examine the dynamic interplay between CSCs and the TME, shedding light on how this interaction impacts cancer progression. Moreover, we provide an overview of advanced therapeutic strategies that specifically target CSCs and the TME, which hold promise for future clinical and translational studies in cancer treatment.
肿瘤干细胞（CSCs）已成为肿瘤起始、生长和转移的关键贡献者。此外，CSCs 在诱导免疫逃逸方面也起着重要作用，从而影响癌症治疗的效果。CSCs 与肿瘤微环境（TME）之间存在着相互交流，TME 为 CSC 的存活和自我更新提供了支持性环境，而 CSC 则反过来影响 TME 的极化和持续存在，促进免疫抑制状态。因此，这些相互作用阻碍了当前癌症治疗的效果，需要探索新的治疗方法来调节 TME 和靶向 CSCs。在这篇综述中，我们强调了 CSCs 逃避免疫监视和对治疗产生耐药性的复杂策略。此外，我们还研究了 CSCs 和 TME 之间的动态相互作用，阐明了这种相互作用如何影响癌症的进展。此外，我们还概述了专门针对 CSCs 和 TME 的先进治疗策略，这些策略有望为癌症治疗的未来临床和转化研究提供新的思路。
