肿瘤干细胞的来源及其临床应用

肿瘤中存在肿瘤干细胞。肿瘤干细胞数目极少,却对肿瘤发生、转移起决定性的作用。肿瘤干细胞是一种特殊类型的干细胞,具备高度增殖能力与自我更新能力,可以多向分化为包括肿瘤细胞在内的各种细胞。其分裂分化的结果是维持肿瘤干细胞数目的稳定并产生肿瘤。本文介绍了肿瘤干细胞研究的历史、来源、特征及其在肿瘤发生发展中的作用,以及与成体干细胞的关系。最后,对肿瘤干细胞理论在肿瘤临床治疗中的应用及此领域的发展方向作了初步的展望。

The Origin of Cancer Stem Cell and its Clinical Application

Cancer stem cells exist in tumors.Cancer stem cells present in small numbers,but they play a crucial function in the initiation and progression of tumors.It belongs to a special type one,with the ability of highly proliferation and self-renewal,undergoing multi-oriented differentiation and generating all types of cells,including tumor cells.The result of division of cancer stem cell is believed to maintain the stability of cancer stem cell population and to give rise to tumors.The research history,origin and properties of cancer stem cell,as well as its function in the initiation and progression of tumors are reviewed in this paper,and the relationship between cancer stem cell and adult stem cell is also outlined.At last,we described the potential application of cancer stem cell theory in the clinical therapy of tumors and the developmental orientation in this field in the near future.