Shared signaling pathways in normal and breast cancer stem cells

AbstractBreast cancer is the second common cancer and the leading cause of malignancy among females overall. Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are a small population of breast cancer cells that play a critical role in the metastasis of breast cancer to other organs in the body. BCSCs have both self-renewal and differentiation capacities, which are thought to contribute to the aggressiveness of metastatic lesions. Therefore, targeting BCSCs can be a suitable approach for the treatment and metastasis of breast cancer. Growing evidence has indicated that the Wnt, NFκB, Notch, BMP2, STAT3, and hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathways govern epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) activation, growth, and tumorigenesis of BCSCs in the primary regions. miRNAs as the central regulatory molecules also play critical roles in BCSC self-renewal, metastasis, and drug resistance. Hence, targeting these pathways might be a novel therapeutic approach for breast cancer diagnosis and therapy. This review discusses known signaling mechanisms involved in the stimulation or prevention of BCSC self-renewal, metastasis, and tumorigenesis.

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Novel Therapeutics Against Breast Cancer Stem Cells by Targeting Surface Markers and Signaling Pathways

Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy ◽

10.2174/1574888x14666190628104721 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 669-682 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Plabon K. Das ◽

Md. A. Rakib ◽

Jahan A. Khanam ◽

Suja Pillai ◽

Farhadul Islam

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Stem Cells ◽

Cancer Stem Cells ◽

Signaling Pathways ◽

Cancer Recurrence ◽

Therapy Resistance ◽

Surface Markers ◽

Breast Cancer Stem Cells ◽

Novel Therapeutics ◽

Cancer Pathogenesis

Background: Breast cancer remains to be one of the deadliest forms of cancers, owing to the drug resistance and tumor relapse caused by breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) despite notable advancements in radio-chemotherapies. Objective: To find out novel therapeutics against breast cancer stem cells by aiming surface markers and signaling pathways. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted through various electronic databases including, Pubmed, Scopus, Google scholar using the keywords "BCSCs, surface markers, signaling pathways and therapeutic options against breast cancer stem cell. Articles selected for the purpose of this review were reviewed and extensively analyzed. Results: Novel therapeutic strategies include targeting BCSCs surface markers and aberrantly activated signaling pathways or targeting their components, which play critical roles in self-renewal and defense, have been shown to be significantly effective against breast cancer. In this review, we represent a number of ways against BCSCs surface markers and hyper-activated signaling pathways to target this highly malicious entity of breast cancer more effectively in order to make a feasible and useful strategy for successful breast cancer treatment. In addition, we discuss some characteristics of BCSCs in disease progression and therapy resistance. Conclusion: BCSCs involved in cancer pathogenesis, therapy resistance and cancer recurrence. Thus, it is suggested that a multi-dimensional therapeutic approach by targeting surface markers and aberrantly activated signaling pathways of BCSCs alone or in combination with each other could really be worthwhile in the treatment of breast cancer.

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