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A novel strategy for cancer treatment: Targeting cancer stem cells

  • Review
  • Cell Biology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Cancer stem cell/tumor-initiating cell (CSC/TIC) is a subclass of cancer cells possessing parts of properties of normal stem cell. It has a high capacity of proliferation and plays a pivotal role in tumor recurrence and tumor resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. At present, small molecule inhibitors and fusion proteins are widely used in the CSC-targeting strategy. Gene-virotherapy, which uses oncolytic adenovirus as a vector to mediate the expression of therapeutic gene, shows a significant superiority to other regimens of cancer treatment and has a good efficacy in the treatment of solid tumors. Thus, it is a promising choice to apply gene-virotherapy into the CSC-targeting treatment. Based on the molecular mechanism underlying CSC self-renewal, a series of effective strategies for targeting CSC have been established. This review will summarize the recent research progresses on CSC-targeting treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xin Yuan Institute of Medicine and Biotechnology, College of Life Science, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Jia Liu, LeiNa Ma, YiGang Wang, XinYuan Liu & QiJun Qian

  2. Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China

    XinYuan Liu

  3. Laboratory of Viral and Gene Therapy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgical Hospital, Shanghai, 200438, China

    QiJun Qian

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  1. Jia Liu
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  2. LeiNa Ma
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  3. YiGang Wang
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  4. XinYuan Liu
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  5. QiJun Qian
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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30730104), and Zhejiang Province Sci-Tech Supporting and Leading Program (Grant No. 2007C33027)

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Liu, J., Ma, L., Wang, Y. et al. A novel strategy for cancer treatment: Targeting cancer stem cells. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 1777–1783 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0241-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0241-5

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