Fig. 4From: Cytokines, breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) and chemoresistanceThe interplay of cytokines and BCSCs on regulating chemotherapeutic resistance. Under the stress of chemotherapeutic drugs, a variety of different sources of cytokines can regulate the self-renewal and promote the survival of BCSCs, leading to drug resistance. Cytokines are a convenient “bridge” between BCSCs and chemoresistance (left panel). If the regulatory signaling to BCSCs is interfered by cytokine blockade, the support of cytokine signals for BCSC chemo-resistance will be broken, increasing the sensitivity of breast cancer chemotherapy (right panel)Back to article page