Understanding the interaction between leukaemia stem cells and their microenvironment to improve therapeutic approaches. Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Although chemotherapeutic regimens can eliminate blasts in leukaemia patients, such therapies are associated with toxicity and often fail to eliminate all malignant cells resulting in disease relapse. Disease relapse has been attributed to the persistence of leukaemia cells in the bone marrow (BM) with the capacity to recapitulate disease; these cells are often referred to as leukaemia stem cells (LSCs). Although LSCs have distinct characteristics in terms of pathobiology and immunophenotype, they are still regulated by their interactions with the surrounding microenvironment. Thus, understanding the interaction between LSCs and their microenvironment is critical to identify effective therapies. To this end, there are numerous efforts to develop models to study such interactions. In this review, we will focus on the reciprocal interactions between LSCs and their milieu in the BM. Furthermore, we will highlight relevant therapies targeting these interactions and discuss some of the promising in vitro models designed to mimic such relationship. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed issue on Cancer Microenvironment and Pharmacological Interventions. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v181.2/issuetoc.

publication date

  • July 5, 2023

Research

keywords

  • Leukemia
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85164308224

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1111/bph.16162

PubMed ID

  • 37309573

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 181

issue

  • 2