Research progress in notch signaling pathway in breast cancer stem cells / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSC) are group of cells exhibiting self-renewal and multi-directional differentiation potentials. These cells have an important role in the occurrence, development, metastasis, and recurrence of breast cancer. In normal circumstances, the ability of mammary stem cells to differentiate and undergo self-renewal is governed by related signaling pathways. After this mechanism is destroyed, breast stem cells undergo abnormal differentiation, forming breast cancer stem cells that unlimitedly proliferate to develop into breast cancer. As research on BCSC increasingly deepens, regulation of BCSC by notch signaling and its crosstalk with several signaling pathways have drawn a great deal of attention in this field. This paper reports the signaling pathways of breast cancer stem cells and latest studies on this field to better understand the essential role of notch signaling pathway in the occurrence and development of breast cancer and corresponding clinical targeted therapy.