Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a frequent malignant tumor with low 5-year overall survival. Targeting ESCC tumor-initiating cells (TICs) may provide a new research avenue to achieve better therapeutic effects of ESCC. However, the identity and characteristics of ESCC TICs remain poorly understood. Through genetic lineage tracing approach, we found that a group of Moloney murine leukemia virus insertion site 1- (Bmi1-) expressing cell populations present in the invasive front of the esophageal epithelium, providing a continuous flow of tumor cells for ESCC. Subsequently, we found that ablation of Bmi1+ cells from mice with ESCC led to inhibition of tumor growth. In addition, our results demonstrated that PTC-209, an inhibitor of Bmi1, was able to inhibit ESCC progression when combined with cisplatin. In summary, our data suggest that Bmi1+ cells serve as TICs in ESCC.

中文翻译：

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Bmi1服务器作为食管鳞状细胞癌中潜在的肿瘤起始细胞标志物和治疗靶标。

食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）是一种常见的恶性肿瘤，总生存期较低，为5年。靶向ESCC肿瘤启动细胞（TICs）可能为获得更好的ESCC治疗效果提供新的研究途径。但是，ESCC TIC的身份和特征仍然知之甚少。通过遗传谱系追踪方法，我们发现食管上皮浸润性前端存在一群表达莫洛尼氏鼠白血病病毒插入位点1-（Bmi1-）的细胞群，为ESCC提供了连续的肿瘤细胞流。随后，我们发现消融ESCC小鼠的Bmi1 +细胞导致了肿瘤生长的抑制。此外，我们的结果表明，Bmi1抑制剂PTC-209与顺铂联合使用时能够抑制ESCC进展。综上所述，