Changes in stem cell regulation and epithelial organisation during carcinogenesis and disease progression in gynaecological malignancies
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Gynaecological malignancies represent a heterogeneous group of neoplasms with vastly different aetiology, risk factors, molecular drivers, and disease outcomes. From HPV-driven cervical cancer where early screening and molecular diagnostics efficiently reduced the number of advanced-stage diagnosis, prevalent and relatively well-treated endometrial cancers, to highly aggressive and mostly lethal high-grade serous ovarian cancer, malignancies of the female genital tract have unique presentations and distinct cell biology features. Recent discoveries of stem cell regulatory mechanisms, development of organoid cultures, and NGS analysis have provided valuable insights into the basic biology of these cancers that could help advance new-targeted therapeutic approaches. This review revisits new findings on stemness and differentiation, considering main challenges and open questions. We focus on the role of stem cell niche and tumour microenvironment in early and metastatic stages of the disease progression and highlight the potential of patient-derived organoid models to study key events in tumour evolution, the appearance of resistance mechanisms, and as screening tools to enable personalisation of drug treatments.
Date Issued
2021-07-01
Date Acceptance
2021-06-29
Citation
Cancers, 2021, 13 (13)
ISSN
2072-6694
Publisher
MDPI AG
Journal / Book Title
Cancers
Volume
13
Issue
13
Copyright Statement
© 2021 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/)
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/)
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000671020900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Oncology
ovarian cancer
endometrial cancer
cervical cancer
patient-derived organoids
cancer stem cells
Wnt signalling
epithelial differentiation
TP53
HDR mechanisms
BRCA1
2
CANCER STEM/PROGENITOR CELLS
PATIENT-DERIVED ORGANOIDS
OVARIAN-CANCER
CERVICAL-CANCER
CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE
ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVES
HUMAN ENDOMETRIUM
XENOGRAFT MODELS
CD24 EXPRESSION
SELF-RENEWAL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 3349