肿瘤干细胞的临床意义

肿瘤干细胞(cancer stem cell, CSC)是近年来在许多肿瘤组织中发现的一类特殊干细胞。肿瘤干细胞具有自我更新和分化的能力，可以通过不断分化肿瘤细胞使新的肿瘤产生；肿瘤干细胞具有很强的耐药性和放射抗拒，这可以用来解释肿瘤的复发和转移。肿瘤干细胞可用于对肿瘤的诊断和治疗：通过对肿瘤干细胞标志物的鉴定可实现对一些肿瘤的早期诊断；一些新的治疗手段则通过作用于肿瘤干细胞的信号转导途径、表面标记和其生存的微环境，以及诱导其分化，从而达到靶向治疗肿瘤的目的。深入研究肿瘤干细胞的耐药性以及确定更多的肿瘤干细胞标志物，可为肿瘤治疗提供新途径。

Clinical implication of cancer stem cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are special stem cells recently found in many tumor tissues. CSCs are capable of self-renewal and differentiation. They can gradually differentiate into tumor cells and form new tumors; they can also be resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which may partly explain the recurrence and metastasis of tumors. CSCs can be used for diagnosis and treatment of tumors, since some tumors can be early diagnosed by detecting certain CSC markers. Some novel therapy strategies target signal transduction pathways, surface molecular markers and tumor microenvironments of CSCs, as well as induce differentiation of CSCs. Further insights into drug-resistance of CSCs and the identification of more CSCs markers may offer new therapeutic strategies for tumors.