肿瘤干细胞与表观遗传学调控

关于恶性肿瘤发生、复发与转移机制的研究由来已久，但目前的临床治疗方法依然不能克服肿瘤复发与转移的难题，肿瘤患者的生存率并未得到显著改善。近年来的研究提示肿瘤的起源、复发与转移的真正原因可能是存在于肿瘤内的极少数具有干细胞特性的细胞，即肿瘤干细胞（cancer stem cells，CSC）。与此同时，越来越多的研究表明，对于肿瘤干细胞的发生与功能维持，表观遗传学的调控机制可能发挥着极其重要的作用。该文简要综述目前肿瘤干细胞和表观遗传学相关领域的研究进展，并对肿瘤干细胞形成及发展过程中表观遗传学的调控作用及机制进行重点介绍。

Epigenetic regulation of cancer stem cells

A long-standing goal of researchers is to understand how tumor origin and development and which tumor cells must be eliminated for treatment to be successful. Recent studies have suggested that a subpopulation of tumor cells possess distinct stem cell properties can proliferate extensively to form new tumors and are the real reason for tumor origin, recur and metastasis. At the same time, more and more studies have suggested that epigenetic regulation may play important roles in cancer stem cell development. Here we review the recent literature on cancer stem cells and epigentics, as well as highlight the research progresses on epigentics regulation on cancer stem cells.