Abstract
The cancer stem cell (CSC) theory is generally acknowledged as an important field of cancer research, not only as an academic matter but also as a crucial aspect of clinical practice. CSCs share a variety of biological properties with normal somatic stem cells in self-renewal, the propagation of differentiated progeny, the expression of specific cell markers and stem cell genes, and the utilization of common signaling pathways and the stem cell niche. However, CSCs differ from normal stem cells in their chemoresistance and their tumorigenic and metastatic activities. In this review, we focus on recent reports regarding the identification of CSC markers and the molecular mechanism of CSC phenotypes to understand the basic properties and molecular target of CSCs. In addition, we especially focus on the CSCs of breast cancer since the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy can lead to the enrichment of CSCs in patients with that disease. The identification of CSC markers and an improved understanding of the molecular mechanism of CSC phenotypes should lead to progress in cancer therapy and improved prognoses for patients with cancer.
Highlights
To overcome problems related to conventional cancer therapy, many cancer researchers focus on tumor-initiating cells (TICs) or cancer stem cells (CSCs)
As accumulating evidence demonstrates that cancers are heterogeneous, clinical oncologists and cancer researchers need to consider which cancer cells have the potential to contribute to disease progression, including drug resistance and metastasis
In breast cancer, recent studies have shown that non-CSCs acquire the CSC phenotype through Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)
Summary
To overcome problems related to conventional cancer therapy, many cancer researchers focus on tumor-initiating cells (TICs) or cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs, like normal stem cells, show asymmetric cell division [5,6], chemoresistance [7], and tumorigenicity [5]. CSCs have the capacity to form secondary/tertiary tumors upon serial xenotransplantation into immunodeficient rodents and show the same features as the original tumors. The demonstration of these three capacities, the gold standard for the evaluation of CSC phenotypes, reflects the malignancy of tumors and is critical in cancer therapy. We discuss the general features of CSCs and focus on their characteristics in breast cancers, in which the identification and analysis of CSC markers and CSC phenotypes are well refined
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