Break the loop, escape the cycle?

Abstract

EMBO J 32 14, 1977–1989 doi:10.1038/emboj.2013.127; published online June042013 Increasing evidence suggests that in many cancer types only a minor proportion of cells, the so-called ‘cancer stem cells', is responsible for fostering continuous tumour growth. Similar to the non-malignant stem cells that maintain tissue homeostasis, cancer stem cells are seemingly able to self-renew indefinitely. A recent study from the lab of Walter Birchmeier, in cooperation with Ulrike Ziebold, published in The EMBO Journal (Wend et al, 2013) suggests that cancer stem cells hijack self-renewal mechanisms similar to those observed in (induced) pluripotent stem cells. Interestingly, their data indicate that breaking this self-enforcing, proliferative loop might be sufficient to promote cancer stem cell differentiation and exhaust tumour growth.