干细胞niche与肿瘤干细胞产生和发展的关系

肿瘤干细胞学说认为大部分肿瘤来源于肿瘤干细胞。肿瘤干细胞与正常干细胞一样具有自我更新能力,能够产生肿瘤组织团块中的各种增殖和分化的细胞。肿瘤干细胞可能来源于正常干细胞或分化细胞。干细胞niche是干细胞生存的微环境,通过提供抑制细胞增殖和生长的信号来维持干细胞于静止状态。干细胞niche功能异常会导致niche的数量增加,以及干细胞功能异常和数量增加。肿瘤干细胞可能在异常的niche中存活,打破这种异常的niche就会削弱肿瘤干细胞的自我更新,从而抑制肿瘤的生长。靶向肿瘤干细胞异常微环境的治疗策略可能是癌症治疗的一个方向。

Correlation of stem cell niche to genesis and development of tumor stem cells

The tumor stem cell model proposes that tumor stem cells are the origin of most tumors. Like normal stem cells, tumor stem cells have the ability to self-renew and to give rise to the variety of proliferating and differentiated cells that make up the bulk of a tumor. Tumor stem cells could be derived from normal stem cells or differentiated cells. The stem cell niches are the microenvironment that maintains stem cells primarily in a quiescent state by providing signals that inhibit cell proliferation and growth. Loss of niches can result in loss of stem cells and increasing niches lead to an increased number of stem cells. Tumor stem cells could live in abnormal niches. Disrupting this abnormal niches may impair tumor stem cell self-renewal, thereby, significantly inhibits the growth of tumors. Targeting the unique microenvironment of tumor stem cells may be the key of effective cancer therapy.