耶鲁大学医学院的研究人员发现了一种卵巢癌干细胞因子，与卵巢癌的生长和病人的预后之间存在关键联系。新研究为开发新的靶向卵巢癌治疗方法铺平了道路，相关研究成果发表在最新一期的Cell Cycle杂志上。

    研究领导者产科，妇科及生殖科学系的副教授Yingqun Huang和她的同事已经证明这两个概念之间的联系，彻底改变了卵巢癌的治疗。

    首先是“癌干细胞”的概念，癌干细胞是难以识别的一个小的肿瘤细胞子集，能促进大部分肿瘤的生长。普通的治疗方法通常会杀死大部分肿瘤细胞，而干细胞会持续增长。第二个概念被称为“种子和土壤”，即肿瘤细胞的“微环境”，这是癌细胞的生长和扩散需要的特殊环境。这两个概念都用于治疗成人实体肿瘤如卵巢癌，卵巢癌一直是出了名的难以诊断和治疗。卵巢癌患者往往因对化疗耐药的肿瘤细胞复发，最终导致癌细胞生长失控，患者死亡。

    在这项研究中，研究人员能够确定卵巢癌中这两个概念之间相互影响的分子基础。他们通过使用先进的基因测序方法，证明干细胞因子Lin28和骨形态发生蛋白4（BMP4）信号分子之间的相互调控联系。

    这些结果被最新一些分子卵巢癌的预后数据证实，这也表明肿瘤微环境在卵巢癌变中发挥积极的作用。总之，新研究发现新了癌症治疗的新靶点。

    Lin28 regulates BMP4 and functions with Oct4 to affect ovarian tumor microenvironment

    Wei Ma, Jing Ma, Jie Xu, Chong Qiao, Adam Branscum, Andres Cardenas, Andre T. Baron, Peter Schwartz, Nita J. Maihle and Yingqun Huang

   Emerging evidence suggests that the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in regulating cancer stem cells (CSCs) and tumor progression through both autocrine and paracrine signaling. Elevated production of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) from human ovarian cancer cells and stroma has been shown to increase CSC proliferation and tumor growth. Here, we report that Lin28, a stem cell factor, binds to BMP4 mRNA in epithelial ovarian carcinoma cells, thereby promoting BMP4 expression at the post-transc**tional level. As co-expression of Lin28 and Oct4 (another stem cell factor) has been implicated in ovarian cancer CSCs, we also determined that high levels of Lin28 are associated with an unfavorable prognosis when co-expressed with high levels of Oct4. Together, these findings uncover a new level of regulation of BMP4 expression and imply a novel Lin28/Oct4/BMP4-mediated mechanism of regulating ovarian tumor cell growth, thus holding potential for the development of new strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer.