Targeting Cancer Stem Cells: A Solution to Cancer Therapy

One of the most important and complicated topics about cancer are cancer stem cells(CSCs). In this study, we reviewed over 50 articles published since 1941 to identify somecharacteristics of CSCs and therapeutic strategies. The CSCs are immortal tumor-initiatingcells that share some characteristics with normal stem/progenitor cells. Some of theirimportant characteristics are self-renewal and dysregulation of signaling pathway networks,multipotent differentiation, tumorigenic potential, expression of stem cell markers, increasedinvasiveness, proliferation as tumor spheres, radioresistance, chemoresistance, resistance tohypoxia, resistance to apoptosis, quiescence, expression of Sox2, Nanog, and Oct4. CSCshave the potential to resist chemotherapeutic agents as well as radiation therapy and thesecharacteristics make them a serious challenge for current cancer treatments. To eradicateCSCs, there are several strategies including suppressing the proliferation of CSCs, inducingthe differentiation of CSCs, destroying CSC niche, inducing apoptosis of CSCs, enhancingsensitivity of CSCs to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The targeting of CSCs is usuallyperformed by pharmacological targeting, immunotherapy, and genetic targeting (miRNA,oncolytic virus). More recently nanomedicine has significantly extended the range of existinganticancer drugs and treatment strategies to target CSCs. In this field, we can divide allcurrent available strategies into three major sections: Drug delivery targeting CSCs(nanocarriers such as nanoparticles (NPs), liposomes, micelles, nanotubes and anogels),targeting genes of drug resistance and destruction the CSCs niches.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cancer Stem Cell ، Niche ، Nanomedicine ، Cancer Therapy ، Radioresistance ، Chemoresistance