Publication: Cancer stem cells in breast cancer
Authors
Dittmer, Jürgen ; Rody, Achim
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Publisher
F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia. Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología
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DOI
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that cancer stem
cells (CSCs) play a critical role in breast cancer
initiation, progression, metastasis and drug resistance. It
is thought that they are either generated from normal
mammary stem/progenitor cells or from mammary
epithelial cells by epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Breast CSCs are characterized by the activation of
stemness-related pathways, such as the Notch and Wnt
pathways, and by the expression of certain stem cell
markers, such as CD44, EpCAM and ALDH1. CSCs
form a minor population, whose proportion depends on
various factors, including environmental conditions.
Since CSCs are highly resistant to chemotherapy,
additional treatment of breast cancer patients with CSC-
specific drugs, such as salinomycin and gamma-
secretase inhibitors which target the Wnt or Notch
pathway, respectively, will be required. Interestingly, an
equilibrium seems to exist between CSCs and non-stem
cancer cells, and there are indications that CSCs can be
recruited from non-stem cancer cells. As a consequence,
it may be necessary to combine a therapy targeting CSCs
with common chemotherapy that targets the bulk tumor
to avoid the regeneration of CSCs.
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Citation
Histology and Histopathology, vol. 28, nº 7 (2013)
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