乳腺癌是全世界最常发现的恶性肿瘤之一。超过 15% 的女性癌症死亡病例是由它造成的。乳腺癌是一种异质性疾病，代表不同的组织学类型、分子特征和临床特征。然而，所有乳腺癌都是按照异质细胞群的层次结构组织的，其中一小部分癌症干细胞（乳腺癌干细胞（BCSC））在癌症进展中发挥着推定的作用，并且它们是治疗失败的原因。在乳腺癌的不同分子亚型中，它们呈现出不同的特征，具有特定的标志物特征、预后和治疗。最近的工作重点是解决 Wnt、Notch、Hedgehog、PI3K/Akt/mTOR 和 HER2 信号通路。开发诊断和治疗策略可以更有效地消除肿瘤块和干细胞群。因此，了解针对“正常”乳腺癌细胞和乳腺癌干细胞亚群的适当治疗方法对于成功消除癌症至关重要。

Breast cancer is one of the most frequently detected malignancies worldwide. It is responsible for more than 15% of all death cases caused by cancer in women. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease representing various histological types, molecular characteristics, and clinical profiles. However, all breast cancers are organized in a hierarchy of heterogeneous cell populations, with a small proportion of cancer stem cells (breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs)) playing a putative role in cancer progression, and they are responsible for therapeutic failure. In different molecular subtypes of breast cancer, they present different characteristics, with specific marker profiles, prognoses, and treatments. Recent efforts have focused on tackling the Wnt, Notch, Hedgehog, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, and HER2 signaling pathways. Developing diagnostics and therapeutic strategies enables more efficient elimination of the tumor mass together with the stem cell population. Thus, the knowledge about appropriate therapeutic methods targeting both "normal" breast cancer cells and breast cancer stem cell subpopulations is crucial for success in cancer elimination.