Identifying and targeting cancer stem cells in the treatment of gastric cancer

Abstract

Current treatment regimens for gastric cancer are not adequate. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) may be a key driving factor for growth and metastasis of this tumor type. In contrast to the conventional clonal evolution hypothesis, CSCs can initiate tumor formation, self‐renew, and differentiate into tumor‐propagating cells. Because gastric cancer can originate from CSCs, it is necessary to review current targets of signaling pathways for CSCs in gastric cancer that are being studied in clinical trials. These pathways are known to regulate the self‐renewal and differentiation process in gastric CSCs. A better understanding of the clinical results of trials that target gastric CSCs will lead to better outcomes for patients with gastric cancer. Cancer 2017;123:1303–1312. © 2017 The Authors. Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Cancer Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Identification of Key Genes for Controlling Cancer Stem Cell Characteristics in Gastric Cancer

“…After conventional surgical treatment or adjuvant chemotherapy, the number of GCSCs does not decrease but stemness is enriched, leading to metastasis, drug resistance and recurrence of GC [3]. Moreover, Bekaii-Saab et al [5] indicated that identi cation and targeted therapy of cancer stem cells had important signi cance in the treatment of GC. Therefore, targeted therapy of GCSCs is crucial.…”

“…Self-renewal of gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs) is considered to be the underlying cause of the metastasis, drug resistance and recurrence of GC [3][4]. The identi cation and targeted therapy of cancer stem cells was of great signi cance in the treatment of GC [5]. The mRNAsi, which can be used as a quantitative representation of cancer cell stemness, is an indicator describing the degree of similarity between tumor cells and stem cells.…”

Molecular characterization of lung cancer: A two‐miRNA prognostic signature based on cancer stem‐like cells related genes

“…The main reason for the high mortality rate of lung cancer is that cancer cells have already invaded and metastasized at the time of diagnosis, and lacking effective treatment measures . At present, most studies have proved that CSCs are related to the recurrence, metastasis, and prognosis of tumors . Joseph et al found that the overexpression of CD133 as a surface marker of CSCs was positively correlated with proliferation of breast cancer cells, and negatively correlated with the patient's survival time.…”

The Role of Exosomal microRNA in Cancer Drug Resistance

“…In recent years, targeting therapy of CSCs by inhibiting EMT has become an effective way to treat cancers and prevent drug resistance (163)(164)(165)(166)(167). EMT is an effective target to affect drug resistance.…”