Research Progress Of Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells

Ovarian cancer is a highly lethal disease among all gynecologic malignancies and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in women.Although the standard combination of surgery and chemotherapy was initially effective in patients with ovarian cancer,disease relapse commonly occurred due to the generation of chemoresistance. It has been reported that cancer stem cells(CSCs)are involved in drug resistance and cancer recurrence.The growth of tumor results from unlimited proliferation of farthing cells,which is called cancer stem cells.Over the past decades, increasing studies have been done to identify CSCs from human ovarian cancer cells and the relationship of cancer stem cells and the chemoresistance of ovarian cancer.These studies include identify CSCs according stem-like surface biomaker,the relationship between CSCs and the chemoresistance of ovarian cancer,the targeted therapy to CSCs.Although there are still numerous challenges to translate basic research to clinical applications,understanding the molecular details of CSCs is essential for developing effective strategies to prenent ovarian cancer and its recurrence.The present paper will summarize different investigations on ovarian CSCs.