脑肿瘤干细胞

脑肿瘤尤其是恶性脑胶质瘤,由于生长及复发快,预后极差,所以找到胶质瘤复发的根源,提高胶质瘤病人的存活率,已成为国内外的肿瘤生物学工作者和临床医学工作者亟待解决的难题。近年来肿瘤干细胞概念的提出及脑肿瘤干细胞的分离及鉴定,为脑肿瘤的研究提供了新的切入点,同时可成为肿瘤治疗新的靶标,为根治脑肿瘤带来了光明的前景。简要综述了脑肿瘤干细胞无限增殖、自我更新、多分化潜能的生物学特性,脑肿瘤干细胞的起源以及与脑肿瘤相关机制方面的研究进展,从而为今后脑肿瘤早期诊断、治疗以及以此为靶标的药物开发提供新的思路和方向。     

肿瘤干细胞的认知历程与研发热点

肿瘤组织中存在一小群能够自我更新、增殖和分化,对肿瘤的发生、发展、复发、转移起决定作用的细胞,即肿瘤干细胞（cancer stem cells,CSCs）。在传统理论方法已不能攻克癌症的情况下,肿瘤干细胞理论为我们重新认识肿瘤的起源和本质提供了新的方向和视角。从20世纪50年代至今,随着生物技术的发展,肿瘤干细胞理论经历了从设想到验证的漫长历程。但该理论自提出之日起便受到来自各方面不同观点的质疑。当今针对肿瘤干细胞癌症治疗主要集中在靶向问题上。因此,寻找特异的肿瘤干细胞标志物,探索肿瘤干细胞与周围微环境间的复杂关系以及发现调控其功能的关键信号通路成为当前研究的热点。     

肿瘤干细胞及其靶向治疗

肿瘤组织中存在一小部分具有无限增殖、自我更新和多向分化能力的肿瘤干细胞。这些肿瘤干细胞,普通的放化疗很难将其根除,并成为肿瘤复发的主要原因。在许多针对肿瘤干细胞的治疗方法中,靶向治疗是目前研究的热点。靶向治疗是通过切断肿瘤干细胞传导通路,攻击肿瘤干细胞表面标志物或诱导肿瘤干细胞分化等途径,抑制或根除肿瘤干细胞,其为根治肿瘤开辟了新的研究方向。     

胃癌干细胞研究进展

胃癌是仅次于肺癌的第二大致死率癌症,尽管近年来对胃癌研究有了很大进展,但由于缺乏良好的动物模型,对胃癌的发病机理仍然不是很清楚.近年的研究表明,肿瘤组织不是由均一细胞构成的,其中存在一些少量细胞可以自我更新并可以分化为肿瘤组织的其他细胞,这类细胞具有类似成体组织干细胞（tissue stem cells）的特性称之为肿瘤干细胞（cancer stem cells）.肿瘤干细胞被认为在肿瘤的生长、转移、复发中发挥着重要作用.有证据表明在胃癌组织中存在胃癌干细胞（gastric cancer stem cells）,但是对胃癌干细胞的来源仍然不是十分明确.对肿瘤干细胞的研究有助于癌症的治疗,改变目前药物针对所有癌细胞的治疗策略.     

生物反应器在干细胞培养中的应用研究进展

干细胞是一类具有自我更新能力和多向分化潜能的细胞,在再生医学、药物筛选及毒理学等生物医学领域呈现出诱人的前景。通过目前的干细胞分离培养技术可获得的干细胞数量极少,远远不能满足临床需要,因此体外大规模扩增培养干细胞是亟待解决的问题。该文简述了适用于干细胞培养的各种生物反应器的特点,以及悬浮生物反应器体系在不同类型干细胞群中的研究应用。同时对利用生物反应器培养干细胞过程中几个主要的关键参数进行了阐述,将为干细胞的培养和研究从思路和方法上提供参考。     

肿瘤干细胞研究进展

肿瘤干细胞（cancer stem cell, CSC）假说是近年来提出的关于肿瘤发生的新理论,在所有的肿瘤细胞中,可能只有一小部分细胞具有产生肿瘤并维持肿瘤生长和异质性的能力,目前已经在白血病、乳腺癌、脑癌等肿瘤组织中成功分离出了肿瘤干细胞,深入了解肿瘤干细胞的生物学特性、发展相应的鉴别方法以及特殊的治疗手段对癌症的临床治疗有着重要的意义。主要从肿瘤干细胞的概念、起源、鉴定分离方法、与正常干细胞的比较、比率以及与肿瘤转移的关系等方面进行了综述。     

肿瘤干细胞研究进展

目前,癌症是导致人类死亡的主要因素之一。尽管在癌症治疗方面取得了巨大进展,但是,其较高的复发率还是会导致死亡。连续治疗失败的一个可能原因是,残留的恶性细胞有类似干细胞的分化潜能,这样就能再次形成肿瘤和造成病灶转移。肿瘤干细胞(cancer stem cell,CSC)假说认为,肿瘤组织中存在具有自我跟新能力,无限增殖和肿瘤形成能力的一小部分肿瘤细胞,近年来,随着在血液肿瘤和实体瘤中相继发现CSC存在的相关证据,对CSC的生物学特性的认识不断深入,对肿瘤的复发、病灶转移、耐药性形成也有了新的观点和研究方向,目前的研究主要集中在其分离鉴定阶段,本文就近年来该方面的研究进展作一综述。     

靶向Ezh2的肿瘤干细胞治疗策略

众所周知,癌症仍然是不治之症。其不治的一个可能原因是治疗癌症时没有能清除肿瘤干细胞,从而导致复发,因此,清除肿瘤干细胞可能可以治愈癌症。研究发现,组蛋白甲基转移酶Ezh2是肿瘤干细胞存活和生长所必需的,抑制Ezh2的组蛋白甲基转移酶活性,可能可以抑制肿瘤干细胞存活和生长,从而治愈癌症。     

肿瘤干细胞分离纯化及鉴定的研究策略

随着白血病、乳腺癌、脑肿瘤干细胞的分离鉴定成功,肿瘤干细胞（tumor stem cell,TSC）学说逐渐成熟起来。分离纯化和鉴定是TSC研究的首要工作和前提,TSC的分离纯化主要有根据细胞表型特征和生物学特性而建立的两大类方法,TSC的鉴定分为体外实验和动物致瘤实验。TSC的分离、纯化及其成功鉴定将为肿瘤临床诊断、治疗、预后及其基础研究带来新的理念。     

硫利达嗪对肝癌干细胞的杀伤作用研究

硫利达嗪(Thioridazine,THO)在临床上通常用于治疗精神类疾病;近年来,研究发现THO对肿瘤细胞具有杀伤效果,但其对肝癌干细胞的杀伤作用还未曾有报道。肿瘤干细胞在肿瘤的转移、复发及耐药性方面起着十分重要的作用。利用体外悬浮培养富集肿瘤干细胞并检测药物THO对其杀伤效果,并以此评价THO对肿瘤生长的体外抑制效应。通过检测体外悬浮培养肝癌干细胞在肿瘤干细胞相关因子表达、耐药性及细胞周期等方面因素,显示在一定程度上其具备肿瘤干细胞样特征,磷酸化STAT3、NANOG和XIAP表达显著上调,而Albumin表达下调;进一步运用MTT、Western blotting和细胞流式等实验验证了THO对肝癌干细胞具有较强的杀伤效果并能诱导caspase依赖的细胞凋亡,而对分化的肝癌细胞影响较弱;此外,THO和化疗药物盐酸阿霉素(DOX)的联合使用显著增强了其对肝癌干细胞和分化的肝癌细胞的杀伤作用。因此,该结果首次显示THO对肝癌干细胞具有较强的杀伤能力,可能为今后肝癌的临床治疗带来新的希望。     

通过模拟胚胎微环境逆转肿瘤的研究进展

肿瘤的发生和发展源于一小部分具有自我更新能力的肿瘤干细胞。胚胎干细胞也具有自我更新和多向分化的特性。胚胎干细胞特异的基质微环境能够提供干细胞正常生长的调控分子,在细胞不断更新的情况下,使增殖和分化达到平衡。受胚胎干细胞调节的基质或胚胎微环境作用于肿瘤细胞,可以使肿瘤细胞获得更多的分化表型,显著降低其恶性程度,抑制肿瘤细胞的侵袭行为。进一步的分子机制研究发现,在肿瘤细胞中高表达的Nodal蛋白会抑制肿瘤细胞分化,而胚胎干细胞分泌的糖基化Lefty蛋白可以负反馈调节Nodal蛋白的作用,从而降低肿瘤细胞的恶性程度。利用组织工程来模拟胚胎干细胞微环境,保留Lefty蛋白,从而逆转肿瘤的方法具有广阔的前景。     

肿瘤干细胞的生物学特性及其研究进展

肿瘤干细胞(cancer stem cells,CSC)是肿瘤组织中存在的一类干细胞,具有自我更新、无限增殖能力及致瘤性。大量研究显示,血液系统及实体瘤中均存在CSC。综述了CSC生物学特性的最新研究进展,包括寻找表面标记物、确定CSC微环境、分选与鉴定CSC、探索肿瘤细z胞和CSC之间的转化、研究CSC耐药性和耐药机制。利用肿瘤的这些生物学特性选择性杀伤肿瘤干细胞的靶分子疗法,为克服肿瘤耐药的复发与转移提供新的策略。CSC的研究为人们对肿瘤生物学特性的进一步认识提供了新的思路,并为肿瘤的临床治疗提供了新的希望。     

Role of platelets and breast cancer stem cells in metastasis

The high mortality rate of breast cancer is mainly caused by the metastatic ability of cancer cells, resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and tumor regression capacity. In recent years, it has been shown that the presence of breast cancer stem cells is closely associated with the migration and metastatic ability of cancer cells, as well as with their resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The tumor microenvironment is one of the main molecular factors involved in cancer and metastatic processes development, in this sense it is interesting to study the role of platelets, one of the main communicator cells in the human body which are activated by the signals they receive from the microenvironment and can generate more than one response. Platelets can ingest and release RNA, proteins, cytokines and growth factors. After the platelets interact with the tumor microenvironment, they are called "tumor-educated platelets." Tumor-educated platelets transport material from the tumor microenvironment to sites adjacent to the tumor, thus helping to create microenvironments conducive for the development of primary and metastatic tumors. It has been observed that the clone capable of carrying out the metastatic process is a cancer cell with stem cell characteristics. Cancer stem cells go through a series of processes, including epithelial-mesenchymal transition, intravasation into blood vessels, movement through blood vessels, extravasation at the site of the establishment of a metastatic focus, and site colonization. Tumor-educated platelets support all these processes.     

人羊水间充质干细胞治疗肿瘤的临床研究进展

人羊水间充质干细胞(Human amniotic fluid derived mesenchymal stem cells,AF-MSCs)是一类具有高度增殖、自我更新和多项分化潜能的干细胞,即使经过多次传代其生物学特性也不会发生改变。有研究表明,AF-MSCs具有免疫原性低、不成瘤性和肿瘤细胞亲嗜性等特点,而且能够迁移到肿瘤病灶。因此,AF-MSCs作为转运载体介导药物靶向治疗肿瘤具有潜在的优势。同时,通过羊膜腔穿刺获得羊水有利于避免胚胎干细胞研究有关的伦理问题,可作为一种理想的治疗方法。本文通过回顾、总结人羊水间充质干细胞的研究进展,展望人羊水间充质干细胞治疗肿瘤的应用前景。     

Presence and role of stem cells in ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecological malignancy. It is typically diagnosed at advanced stages of the disease, with metastatic sites disseminated widely within the abdominal cavity. Ovarian cancer treatment is challenging due to high disease recurrence and further complicated pursuant to acquired chemoresistance. Cancer stem cell(CSC) theory proposes that both tumor development and progression are driven by undifferentiated stem cells capable of self-renewal and tumor-initiation. The most recent evidence revealed that CSCs in terms of ovarian cancer are not only responsible for primary tumor growth, metastasis and relapse of disease, but also for the development of chemoresistance. As the elimination of this cell population is critical for increasing treatment success, a deeper understanding of ovarian CSCs pathobiology, including epithelial-mesenchymal transition, signaling pathways and tumor microenvironment, is needed. Finally, before introducing new therapeutic agents for ovarian cancer, targeting CSCs, accurate identification of different ovarian stem cell subpopulations, including the very small embryoniclike stem cells suggested as progenitors, is necessary. To these ends, reliable markers of ovarian CSCs should be identified. In this review, we present the current knowledge and a critical discussion concerning ovarian CSCs and their clinical role.     

A model of cancer stem cells derived from mouse induced pluripotent stem cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are capable of continuous proliferation and self-renewal and are proposed to play significant roles in oncogenesis, tumor growth, metastasis and cancer recurrence. CSCs are considered derived from normal stem cells affected by the tumor microenvironment although the mechanism of development is not clear yet. In 2007, Yamanaka's group succeeded in generating Nanog mouse induced pluripotent stem (miPS) cells, in which green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been inserted into the 5'-untranslated region of the Nanog gene. Usually, iPS cells, just like embryonic stem cells, are considered to be induced into progenitor cells, which differentiate into various normal phenotypes depending on the normal niche. We hypothesized that CSCs could be derived from Nanog miPS cells in the conditioned culture medium of cancer cell lines, which is a mimic of carcinoma microenvironment. As a result, the Nanog miPS cells treated with the conditioned medium of mouse Lewis lung carcinoma acquired characteristics of CSCs, in that they formed spheroids expressing GFP in suspension culture, and had a high tumorigenicity in Balb/c nude mice exhibiting angiogenesis in vivo. In addition, these iPS-derived CSCs had a capacity of self-renewal and expressed the marker genes, Nanog, Rex1, Eras, Esg1 and Cripto, associated with stem cell properties and an undifferentiated state. Thus we concluded that a model of CSCs was originally developed from miPS cells and proposed the conditioned culture medium of cancer cell lines might perform as niche for producing CSCs. The model of CSCs and the procedure of their establishment will help study the genetic alterations and the secreted factors in the tumor microenvironment which convert miPS cells to CSCs. Furthermore, the identification of potentially bona fide markers of CSCs, which will help the development of novel anti-cancer therapies, might be possible though the CSC model.     

Energy metabolism in cancer stem cells

Normal cells mainly rely on oxidative phosphorylation as an effective energy source in the presence of oxygen. In contrast, most cancer cells use less efficient glycolysis to produce ATP and essential biomolecules. Cancer cells gain the characteristics of metabolic adaptation by reprogramming their metabolic mechanisms to meet the needs of rapid tumor growth. A subset of cancer cells with stem characteristics and the ability to regenerate exist throughout the tumor and are therefore called cancer stem cells (CSCs). New evidence indicates that CSCs have different metabolic phenotypes compared with differentiated cancer cells. CSCs can dynamically transform their metabolic state to favor glycolysis or oxidative metabolism. The mechanism of the metabolic plasticity of CSCs has not been fully elucidated, and existing evidence indicates that the metabolic phenotype of cancer cells is closely related to the tumor microenvironment. Targeting CSC metabolism may provide new and effective methods for the treatment of tumors. In this review, we summarize the metabolic characteristics of cancer cells and CSCs and the mechanisms of the metabolic interplay between the tumor microenvironment and CSCs, and discuss the clinical implications of targeting CSC metabolism.     

Cancer research by means of tissue engineering – is there a rationale?

Tissue engineering (TE) has evoked new hopes for the cure of organ failure and tissue loss by creating functional substitutes in the laboratory. Besides various innovations in the context of Regenerative Medicine (RM), TE also provided new technology platforms to study mechanisms of angiogenesis and tumour cell growth as well as potentially tumour cell spreading in cancer research. Recent advances in stem cell technology – including embryonic and adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells – clearly show the need to better understand all relevant mechanisms to control cell growth when such techniques will be administered to patients. Such TE‐Cancer research models allow us to investigate the interactions that occur when replicating physiological and pathological conditions during the initial phases of replication, morphogenesis, differentiation and growth under variable given conditions. Tissue microenvironment has been extensively studied in many areas of TE and it plays a crucial role in cell signalling and regulation of normal and malignant cell functions. This article is intended to give an overview on some of the most recent developments and possible applications of TE and RM methods with regard to the improvement of cancer research with TE platforms. The synthesis of TE with innovative methods of molecular biology and stem‐cell technology may help investigate and potentially modulate principal phenomena of tumour growth and spreading, as well as tumour‐related angiogenesis. In the future, these models have the potential to investigate the optimal materials, culture conditions and material structure to propagate tumour growth.     

Disruption of the redox balance with either oxidative or anti-oxidative overloading as a promising target for cancer therapy

Oxidative stress acts as a double-edged sword by being both a promoter and a suppressor of cancer. Moderate oxidative stress is beneficial for cancer cell proliferative and invasiveness features, while overexposure of the cells to oxidative insults could induce cancer cell apoptosis and reduce hypoxia along with modulating the immune system for regression of tumor. Cancer cells and cancer stem cells have highly efficient redox systems that make them resistant to oxidative insults. The redox disruptive approach is an area of current research and key for oxidative targeted cancer therapies. This disruption is applicable by using either oxidative or anti-oxidative overloading strategies, specifically on cancer cells without influencing normal cells or tissues around tumor. The activity of tumor suppressor cells within tumor microenvironment is needed to be maintained in patients receiving such approaches.     

骨髓干细胞移植治疗肝硬化的基础与临床研究现状

肝硬化是一种临床常见的肝病良性终末期表现。目前临床上尚缺乏有效的治疗措施。肝脏移植是最理想的治疗方法,但受供体肝脏来源限制,且费用昂贵。近年来开展的自体骨髓干细胞(BMSCs)移植治疗,为肝硬化的治疗带来了新的希望。BMSCs主要包括造型血干细胞和间充质干细胞,其具有可塑性,体外通过生长因子,体内利用特定微环境均可诱导BMSCs分化为肝前体细胞和成熟肝细胞,并明显改善肝功能。从动物实验到临床研究亦表明,BMSCs具有来源丰富、费用低廉、损伤小、自体移植不栓塞、无排斥反应等优点,为治疗肝病带来了新思路,有望成为生物人工肝的细胞来源。本文就BMSCs移植治疗肝硬化的研究现状,尤其是移植途径以及在肝脏内定居、迁移和分化机制的示踪观察方法和存在的问题作一综述,以期为从事肝病研究的同仁提供参考依据。通过对BMSCs移植从基础研究及临床应用的最新进展的描述,展示BMSCs在肝硬化治疗方面良好的治疗前景。