Novel therapeutic target for cancer stem cells in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Cancer is a disease of genetic and epigenetic alterations, which are emphasized as the central mechanisms of tumor progression in the multi-stepwise model. Discovery of rare subpopulations of cancer stem cells (CSCs) has created a new focus in cancer research. The heterogeneity of tumors can be explained with the help of CSCs supported by anti-apoptotic signaling. CSCs mimic normal adult stem cells by demonstrating unique characteristics of self-renewal and pluripotency, and the critical role for tumor growth and resistance to anti-cancer therapy. We found that CD13 was a surface marker for CSCs in human liver cancer cell lines and clinical samples, and that CD13+ CSCs were associated with a hypoxic marker in clinical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) sample, suggesting that CD13+ CSCs have the critical role in tumor growth and resistance to anti-cancer therapy in liver cancers. In this review article, we update recent findings regarding the involvement of CSCs, especially in HCC.
Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka E-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan. hnagano@gesurg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
Hiroaki
H
Nagano
Hideshi
H
Ishii
Shigeru
S
Marubashi
Naotsugu
N
Haraguchi
Hidetoshi
H
Eguchi
Yuichiro
Y
Doki
Masaki
M
Mori
D017209:Apoptosis; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*