自我更新的癌症干细胞（CSC）代表肿瘤中出现的独特细胞群之一，可以分化成多个谱系。这组数量稀少的细胞在肿瘤存活和癌症期间对不同治疗的抵抗力中发挥着至关重要的作用。由于缺乏与 CSC 相关的专有标志物，使得癌症患者的诊断和预后变得极其困难。这就需要识别 CSC 的独特调节因子和标记物。 Wnt/β-catenin 通路、Hedgehog 通路、Notch 通路、TGFβ/BMP 等多种信号通路在 CSC 的调控和维持中发挥着重要作用。表观遗传调控机制为控制这些信号通路增加了另一层复杂性。在本章中，我们讨论表观遗传机制在调节 CSC 细胞信号通路中的作用。 DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和microRNA等表观遗传调控机制可以调节信号通路的多种效应子，从而调节CSC的生长、分化和致瘤性。最后，我们简要讨论了针对 CSC 中这些表观遗传调节因子及其靶基因的治疗潜力。版权所有 © 2024。由 Elsevier Inc. 出版。

The self-renewing cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent one of the distinct cell populations occurring in a tumour that can differentiate into multiple lineages. This group of sparsely abundant cells play a vital role in tumour survival and resistance to different treatments during cancer. The lack of exclusive markers associated with CSCs makes diagnosis and prognosis in cancer patients extremely difficult. This calls for the identification of unique regulators and markers for CSCs. Various signalling pathways like the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, Hedgehog pathway, Notch pathway, and TGFβ/BMP play a major role in the regulation and maintenance of CSCs. Epigenetic regulatory mechanisms add another layer of complexity to control these signalling pathways. In this chapter, we discuss about the role of epigenetic mechanisms in regulating the cellular signalling pathways in CSCs. The epigenetic regulatory mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification and microRNAs can modulate the diverse effectors of signalling pathways and consequently the growth, differentiation and tumorigenicity of CSCs. In the end, we briefly discuss the therapeutic potential of targeting these epigenetic regulators and their target genes in CSCs.Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.