Therapeutic Strategies Against Cancer Stem Cells in Esophageal Carcinomas

Frontiers in Oncology

Robert A. Smith¹  Plabon Kumar Das³  Alfred K. Lam⁴  Farhadul Islam⁵ 

[1] Cancer Molecular Pathology, School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia;Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Genomics Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia;Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh;Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia;Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia;

关键词: esophageal cancer;    esophageal cancer stem cells;    cancer signaling;    miRNAs;    hypoxia;    autophagy;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fonc.2020.598957

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) in esophageal cancer have a key role in tumor initiation, progression and therapy resistance. Novel therapeutic strategies to target CSCs are being tested, however, more in-depth research is necessary. Eradication of CSCs can result in successful therapeutic approaches against esophageal cancer. Recent evidence suggests that targeting signaling pathways, miRNA expression profiles and other properties of CSCs are important strategies for cancer therapy. Wnt/β-catenin, Notch, Hedgehog, Hippo and other pathways play crucial roles in proliferation, differentiation, and self-renewal of stem cells as well as of CSCs. All of these pathways have been implicated in the regulation of esophageal CSCs and are potential therapeutic targets. Interference with these pathways or their components using small molecules could have therapeutic benefits. Similarly, miRNAs are able to regulate gene expression in esophageal CSCs, so targeting self-renewal pathways with miRNA could be utilized to as a potential therapeutic option. Moreover, hypoxia plays critical roles in esophageal cancer metabolism, stem cell proliferation, maintaining aggressiveness and in regulating the metastatic potential of cancer cells, therefore, targeting hypoxia factors could also provide effective therapeutic modalities against esophageal CSCs. To conclude, additional study of CSCs in esophageal carcinoma could open promising therapeutic options in esophageal carcinomas by targeting hyper-activated signaling pathways, manipulating miRNA expression and hypoxia mechanisms in esophageal CSCs.

【 授权许可】

Unknown