Hoseinian Seyed Nasser, Saeedi Mohammad, Saravani Mohammad Erfan, Zenoozi Sepideh, Mehranfar Fatemeh, Pouyan Amin
Department of Hematology, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Department of Laboratory Science, Faculty of medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
Int J Mol Cell Med. 2025 Jul 1;14(2):735-776. doi: 10.22088/IJMCM.BUMS.14.2.753. eCollection 2025.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subset of cells within tumors that exhibit stem cell-like characteristics, including the ability to self-renew and differentiate. CSCs are the cause of carcinogenesis and tumorigenesis. The expression of cell surface markers, which varies linked to the kind of tumor, is utilized to recognize CSCs. An essential part of tumor invasion and metastasis is played by CSCs. Numerous investigations have been carried out to find distinguished markers and different phenotypes of CSCs, which are especially crucial for identifying and separating this subset of cells. It was discovered that the regulation of CSCs involves a multitude of signaling pathways. These cells are determined by their ability to self-renewal pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin, JAK/STAT3, PTEN/PI3-K/Akt, and Hedgehog, their surface biomarkers, and their resistance to many drugs. Aberrant activation of these signaling pathways is associated with cell growth. Thus, focusing on CSCs is seen to be a viable anti-cancer treatment approach. It is encouraging that CSCs' self-renewal pathways present a viable target for changing their survival tactics and limiting their capacity to proliferate tumors. This study highlights the characterization and investigation of CSC self-renewal pathways, also discusses potential targeted therapy for CSC, and gives a summary of the significant factors and pathways that adjust CSC formation.
癌症干细胞（CSCs）是肿瘤内的一类细胞亚群，具有干细胞样特性，包括自我更新和分化能力。癌症干细胞是致癌作用和肿瘤发生的原因。细胞表面标志物的表达因肿瘤类型而异，可用于识别癌症干细胞。癌症干细胞在肿瘤侵袭和转移中起重要作用。为了找到癌症干细胞独特的标志物和不同的表型，人们已经进行了大量研究，这对于识别和分离这一细胞亚群尤为关键。研究发现，癌症干细胞的调控涉及多种信号通路。这些细胞由其自我更新通路（如Wnt/β-连环蛋白、JAK/STAT3、PTEN/PI3-K/Akt和Hedgehog）、表面生物标志物以及对多种药物的抗性所决定。这些信号通路的异常激活与细胞生长有关。因此，关注癌症干细胞被视为一种可行的抗癌治疗方法。令人鼓舞的是，癌症干细胞的自我更新通路为改变其生存策略和限制其肿瘤增殖能力提供了一个可行的靶点。本研究着重介绍了癌症干细胞自我更新通路的特征和研究情况，还讨论了针对癌症干细胞的潜在靶向治疗方法，并总结了调节癌症干细胞形成过程的重要因素和通路。
