IJCEM Copyright © 2008-All rights reserved. Published by e-Century Publishing Corporation, Madison, WI 53711
Int J Clin Exp Med 1(3),260-266;2008

Review Article
A Review of the Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells

Yueyin Pan and Xudong Huang

Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Conjugate and Medicinal
Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street,
Boston, MA 02115, U.S.A.

Received May 2, 2008; accepted June 21, 2008; available online June 30, 2008

Abstract:Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women and the most common type of gynecologic
malignancy. Despite advances in surgery and chemotherapy, the survival rate of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer is still low. For a
whole decade, that situation has not improved. The most ovarian cancer patients relapse and become drug-resistant. Increasing
evidence has suggested that the tumor growth capability is dependent on these cells that represent a small subset of cells within a
variety of human tumors. In immuno-compromised mice, CSCs were assayed by their ability to initiate tumor growth. Although still
being explored, the ovarian CSC, which has been found in several ovarian cancer cell lines and among a mixed population of cells
derived from the ascites of a patient with advanced ovarian cancer. Hope may lie in killing of the ovarian cancer stem cells (CSCs) as
CSCs are likely to be the therapeutic target in the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer. A thorough understanding of its biology,
particularly of how the CSCs differ from the ordinary cancer cells and normal stem cells, might allow them to be selectively targeted and
eliminated to improve therapeutic outcome. (IJCEM805001).

Key Words: Epithelial ovarian cancer; stem cell, cancer stem cell

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Address all correspondence to: Xudong Huang, Ph.D., Conjugate and Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Radiology,
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, U.S.A.; Tel: (617) 525-7279; Fax:
(617)732-8552; E-mail:
xhuang3@partners.org