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research / researchpancreatic cancer stem cells

Christopher Heeschen

克里斯托弗·希辛

MD, PhD

🏢Queen Mary University of London(伦敦玛丽女王大学)🌐UK

Professor of Stem Cell Biology in Cancer癌症干细胞生物学教授

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Key Papers
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Awards
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Key Contributions

👥Biography 个人简介

Christopher Heeschen is a leading researcher in pancreatic cancer stem cells who identified CD133 and CXCR4 as markers of pancreatic CSCs with enhanced metastatic capacity, demonstrating that CSCs mediate both tumor initiation and distant seeding. His work showed that conventional chemotherapy including gemcitabine preferentially kills bulk tumor cells while enriching for CSC populations, providing mechanistic insight into why pancreatic cancer has intrinsic chemotherapy resistance. Heeschen has developed strategies to target the pancreatic CSC niche through Nodal/Activin, Wnt, and metabolic vulnerabilities, identifying synthetic lethal combinations in pancreatic cancer.

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🧪Research Fields 研究领域

pancreatic cancer stem cells胰腺癌干细胞
CD133 pancreatic CSCCD133胰腺CSC
CSC nicheCSC微环境
gemcitabine resistance吉西他滨耐药
metastasis and CSC转移与CSC

🎓Key Contributions 主要贡献

Pancreatic CSC Metastasis

Identified CD133+CXCR4+ pancreatic CSCs as the metastasis-initiating population, demonstrating that CXCR4 mediates stromal homing and that CXCR4 inhibition reduces metastatic colonization in preclinical models.

Chemotherapy Resistance via CSC Enrichment

Demonstrated that gemcitabine eliminates bulk pancreatic cancer cells while enriching for CD133+ CSCs, explaining why chemotherapy paradoxically can increase CSC proportion and promote tumor relapse.

Representative Works 代表性著作

[1]

A CD133-Expressing Pancreatic Cancer Subpopulation Has Capacity for Acinar-Ductal Metaplasia

Science (2007)

Identification of pancreatic cancer stem cells by CD133.

[2]

The Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cell: From Identification to Targeted Therapy

Cell Stem Cell (2009)

Comprehensive review of pancreatic CSC biology and targeting.

🏆Awards & Recognition 奖项与荣誉

🏆German Cancer Prize
🏆European Pancreatic Cancer Award

📄Data Sources 数据来源

Institution

Last updated: 2026-01-15 | All information from publicly available academic sources

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