Open AccessBone microenvironment signaling of cancer stem cells as a therapeutic target in metastatic prostate cancer
Author(s) -
Clara H. Lee,
Ann M. Decker,
Frank C. Cackowski,
Russell S. Taichman
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
cell biology and toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.842
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-6822
pISSN - 0742-2091
DOI - 10.1007/s10565-019-09483-7
Subject(s) - prostate cancer , medicine , cancer stem cell , cancer , metastasis , cancer research , bone metastasis , cancer cell , disease , stem cell , tumor microenvironment , radiation therapy , oncology , biology , genetics
Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancers and the second leading cause of cancer death among US males. When diagnosed in an early disease stage, primary tumors of PCa may be treated with surgical resection or radiation, sometimes combined with androgen deprivation therapy, with favorable outcomes. Unfortunately, the treatment efficacy of each approach decreases significantly in later stages of PCa that involve metastasis to soft tissues and bone. Metastatic PCa is a heterogeneous disease containing host cells, mature cancer cells, and subpopulation of cancer stem cells (CSC). CSCs are highly tumorigenic due to their self-renewing and differentiating potential, clinically resulting in recurrence and resistance to standard therapies. Therefore, there is a large unmet clinical need to develop therapies, which target CSC activity. In this review, we summarize the main signaling pathways that are implicated in the current pre-clinical and clinical studies of recurrent metastatic PCa within the bone microenvironment targeting CSCs and discuss the trajectory of therapeutics moving forward.