Breast Cancer Stem Cell Heterogeneity, Plasticity and Treatment Strategies

Mengting Chen; Suling Liu

doi:10.47248/chp2502010004

Cancer Heterogeneity and Plasticity 2025;2(1):0004 | https://doi.org/10.47248/chp2502010004

Review Open Access

Breast Cancer Stem Cell Heterogeneity, Plasticity and Treatment Strategies

Mengting Chen ¹ , Suling Liu ^1,2,3

1. Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center & Institutes of Biomedical Sciences; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering; Cancer Institutes; Department of Oncology; Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer in Shanghai; The Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology; The International Co-Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Ministry of Science and Technology; Shanghai Medical College; Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
2. Jinfeng Laboratory, Chongqing 401329, China
3. Jiangsu Key Lab of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention and Treatment, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China

Correspondence: Suling Liu

Academic Editor(s): Dean G. Tang

Received: Nov 29, 2024 | Accepted: Feb 26, 2025 | Published: Mar 6, 2025

Cite this article: Chen M, Liu S. Breast Cancer Stem Cell Heterogeneity, Plasticity and Treatment Strategies. Cancer Heterog Plast 2025; 2(1):0004. https://doi.org/10.47248/chp2502010004

Abstract

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are a small proportion of stem-like breast cancer cells with more tumorigenic and metastatic capacity in comparison to the bulk tumor cells, which are capable of self-renewal and generating differentiated cells. BCSCs are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. More and more research indicate that BCSCs are heterogeneous and have plasticity, which refer to their ability to switch between different subtypes of stem-like cells and differentiated cells. There is some evidence showing that BCSC heterogeneity and plasticity plays a role on therapeutic resistance and metastasis of breast cancer. In this review, we discussed the roles of extrinsic (rewired tumor microenvironment, including hypoxia, microbiota) and intrinsic (pro-tumor signaling) factors on regulating BCSC heterogeneity and plasticity, leading to various malignant behaviors of BCSCs, including epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)/mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), immune evasion, vasculogenesis and so on. Moreover, we also discussed the potential therapeutic strategies to target BCSCs.

Keywords

breast cancer stem cell, tumor microenvironment, plasticity, heterogeneity, targeting therapy

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