Cell Mol Immunol. 2012 Jun 25. doi: 10.1038/aja.2012.62. [Epub ahead of print]
Prostate cancer stem cells: molecular characterization for targeted therapy.
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Department of Pathology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
"Prostate cancer (PCa) statistics are alarming, and the disease poses one of the most intriguing cancer problems of the twenty-first century. Screening strategies involving serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurement in men over 40 years of age have substantially increased the rate of cancer detection but have not decreased the mortality. This begs the question whether PSA expression is the right detection tool for identifying aggressive PCa or not especially, because the level of serum PSA cannot distinguish the indolent from aggressive PCa. While there is a consensus that cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease, PCa is also heterogeneous harboring myriad types of cells in terms of their molecular make-up. Complete molecular characterization of PCa especially the incurable form of castrate-resistant PCa (CRPC) subtype is lacking. Additionally, a large yet controversial body of evidence suggests that within the different PCa cell subtypes, there exists an enriched population of highly resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs) or more commonly accepted as cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) population. CSCs or CSLCs within the tumor are believed to be the cells that drive PCa progression and metastasis. However, the origin, identity and molecular characterization of CSCs or CSLCs that is relevant to clinical stages of PCa remain a hotly debated topic."
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