Targeting epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells for chemoresistant ovarian cancer

// Junli Deng 1,2,3,4 , Li Wang 3,4 , Hongmin Chen 3,4 , Jingli Hao 1,2 , Jie Ni 1,2 , Lei Chang 1,2 , Wei Duan 5 , Peter Graham 1,2 and Yong Li 1,2 1 Cancer Care Centre, St George Hospital, Kogarah, NSW, Australia 2 St George and Sutherland Clinical School, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Kensington, NSW, Australia 3 Department of Gynecological Oncology, Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, China 4 Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China 5 School of Medicine, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia Correspondence to: Yong Li, email: // Keywords : ovarian cancer, EMT, CSC, chemoresistance, therapy Received : February 11, 2016 Accepted : May 30, 2016 Published : June 09, 2016 Abstract Chemoresistance is the main challenge for the recurrent ovarian cancer therapy and responsible for treatment failure and unfavorable clinical outcome. Understanding mechanisms of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer would help to predict disease progression, develop new therapies and personalize systemic therapy. In the last decade, accumulating evidence demonstrates that epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells play important roles in ovarian cancer chemoresistance and metastasis. Treatment of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells holds promise for improving current ovarian cancer therapies and prolonging the survival of recurrent ovarian cancer patients in the future. In this review, we focus on the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells in ovarian cancer chemoresistance and explore the therapeutic implications for developing epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells associated therapies for future ovarian cancer treatment.