Abstract
The cancer stem cell (CSC) model posits that CSCs are a small, biologically distinct subpopulation of cancer cells in each tumor that have self-renewal and multi-lineage potential, and are critical for cancer initiation, metastasis, recurrence, and therapy-resistance. Numerous studies have linked CSCs to thyroid biology, but the candidate markers and signal transduction pathways that drive thyroid CSC growth are controversial, the origin(s) of thyroid CSCs remain elusive, and it is unclear whether thyroid CSC biology is consistent with the original hierarchical CSC model or the more recent dynamic CSC model. Here, we critically review the thyroid CSC literature with an emphasis on research that confirmed the presence of thyroid CSCs by in vitro sphere formation or in vivo tumor formation assays with dispersed cells from thyroid cancer tissues or bona fide thyroid cancer cell lines. Future perspectives of thyroid CSC research are also discussed.
Highlights
The current consensus among cancer biologists is that cancer cellular heterogeneity can be explained in two ways
epithelial– mesenchymal transition (EMT) induced by overexpression of SNAIL in ACT1 led to an increase in thyrosphere forming ability in a small fraction of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)− cells, indicating a link between EMT and cancer stem cell (CSC) only in ALDH− cells [12]
We have described the significant progress that has been made in addressing the biology of thyroid CSCs
Summary
The cancer stem cell (CSC) model posits that CSCs are a small, biologically distinct subpopulation of cancer cells in each tumor that have self-renewal and multi-lineage potential, and are critical for cancer initiation, metastasis, recurrence, and therapy-resistance. We critically review the thyroid CSC literature with an emphasis on research that confirmed the presence of thyroid CSCs by in vitro sphere formation or in vivo tumor formation assays with dispersed cells from thyroid cancer tissues or bona fide thyroid cancer cell lines. Future perspectives of thyroid CSC research are discussed. Reviewed by: Jeffrey Knauf, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, USA Motoyasu Saji, The Ohio State University, USA. Specialty section: This article was submitted to Thyroid Endocrinology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology. Received: 10 December 2015 Accepted: 15 February 2016 Published: 29 February 2016
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