Cancer Stem Cells and Chemoresistance in Ewing Sarcoma.

Abstract

Resistance to chemotherapy poses a major challenge for cancer treatment. Reactivating a stem cell program resembling that seen in embryonic development can lead cancer cells to acquire a stem-cell phenotype characterized by expression of stemness genes, pluripotency, high self-renewal ability, and tumor-initiating capability. These cancer stem cells (CSCs) are usually resistant to anticancer drugs and are likely involved in treatment failure in many cancer types. Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a pediatric cancer type typically resulting from a typical genetic alteration affecting bone or soft tissues. Despite advances in treatment, survival prognostic remains poor for patients with refractory or recurrent disease. Here, we review the increasing evidence indicating that ES tumors contain a CSC subpopulation expressing stem cell genes, including BM1, OCT3/4, NANOG, and SOX2, that plays a role in resistance to drug treatment, and current experimental strategies that successfully counteract chemoresistance mediated by CSCs in ES.

• Authors: Rafael Pereira Dos Santos, Rafael Roesler, Lauro Gregianin, André T Brunetto, Mariane da Cunha Jaeger, Algemir Lunardi Brunetto, Caroline Brunetto de Farias
• Journal: Current stem cell research & therapy (Curr Stem Cell Res Ther) Vol. 18 Issue 7 Pg. 926-936 ( 2023) ISSN: 2212-3946 [Electronic] United Arab Emirates
• PMID: 35761483 (Publication Type: Review, Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at [email protected].

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents

Topics

• Humans
• Sarcoma, Ewing (drug therapy, genetics, metabolism)
• Drug Resistance, Neoplasm (genetics)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Antineoplastic Agents (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Neoplastic Stem Cells (metabolism)