Multiple myeloma stem cells: Effect and significance of surface markers and signal transduction pathways / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cell is a minority population of cancer cells in multiple myeloma possessing the properties of stem cells self-renewal, multi-directional differentiation and long-term proliferation, which mediating disease initiation, relapse, progression and drug resistance.OBJECTIVE: To review characteristics of biology, phenotypic analyses, sorting and identification in clonogenic myeloma cells, the signaling pathways with in myeloma stem cells and the target therapy related.METHODS: Application of computer search Medline database (1999-01/2009-04), using "multiple myeloma stem cells, heterogeneity, phenotypic analysis, signaling pathways, target therapy" as key words; application of computer search CNKI database (1999-01/2009-04) and CBM Database (1999-01/2009-04) using "multiple myeloma stem cells, heterogeneity, stem cell separation and identification, signal transduction, targeted therapy as key words".RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We collected for 126 literatures on the multiple myeloma stem cell-related, which include 30 Chinese articles and 96 English articles, excluding published earlier, repeated, and similar studies into 30 sub-standard literatures. Now widely recognized that multiple myeloma stem cells may be derived from normal stem cells, the accumulation of mutations and by gene mutation in regaining self-renewal capacity of progenitor cells or fully differentiated mature cells. Circulating clonotypic memory B-cell populations have self-renewal and multi-directional differentiation potential, which represent the cancer stem cells in multiple myeloma. The exact phenotype of multiple myeloma cancer stem cells has not been definitively established and researched remains. At present, both the side population cells and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity assays were mainly capable of isolating multiple myeloma cancer stem cells. Which to possess self-renewal ability by Hedgehog ,Wnt and Notch signaling pathways. When these signal transduction pathways appear abnormal, leading to the occurrence of the tumor and tumor cell growth in non-controlled. Against the cancer stem cell targeted therapy is a new and important direction of selective therapeutic strategies. Cancer stem cell specific surface markers and signal transduction pathways can be used as anti-cancer stem cells to control tumor development targets.