前列腺癌干细胞研究进展

前列腺癌是男性患者中最常见的癌症,严重危害男性的健康。目前关于前列腺癌的发病理论并不能完全解释该疾病异质性、转移性生长、耐药性和肿瘤复发的机制。前列腺干细胞是前列腺中具有自我再生和增殖功能的异质亚群,能产生构成前列腺上皮的所有细胞谱系。根据癌症干细胞假说,前列腺癌可能是一种干细胞疾病。前列腺癌干细胞具有明显的克隆形成性和治疗抵抗性,并在前列腺恶性肿瘤的发生和发展中起决定性作用,选择性靶向这些干细胞的治疗策略已引起了广泛的关注。本文主要论述前列腺癌干细胞的起源、鉴定、分子标记及临床应用,揭示癌症干细胞的生理功能,并获得有关其可能参与前列腺癌发病机理的基本知识,为将来开发有效的治疗策略提供理论基础。

Prostate cancer stem cells:Current understanding

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in men and seriously harms their health.The current theories on prostate cancer cannot fully explain the heterogeneity,metastatic growth,drug resistance and tumor recurrence of the disease.Prostate stem cells are small heterogeneous subpopulations in the prostate that are characterized by self-renewal and proliferation,and can produce all the lineages of prostate epithelia.According to the cancer stem cell hypothesis,prostate cancer may be a stem cell disease.Prostate cancer stem cells have a markedly increased clonogenicity and therapeutic resistance,and play a decisive role in the occurrence and development of prostatic malignancies.Therapeutic strategies for selectively targeting these stem cells have attracted widespread attention.This article focuses on the origin,identification,molecular markers and clinical application of prostate cancer stem cells,their physiological function and possible involvement in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer,paving a theoretical ground for the development of efficient and sophisticated therapeutic strategies.