Cancer Stem Cells and Pediatric Solid Tumors
نویسندگان
چکیده
Recently, a subpopulation of cells, termed tumor-initiating cells or tumor stem cells (TSC), has been identified in many different types of solid tumors. These TSC, which are typically more resistant to chemotherapy and radiation compared to other tumor cells, have properties similar to normal stem cells including multipotency and the ability to self-renew, proliferate, and maintain the neoplastic clone. Much of the research on TSC has focused on adult cancers. With considerable differences in tumor biology between adult and pediatric cancers, there may be significant differences in the presence, function and behavior of TSC in pediatric malignancies. We discuss what is currently known about pediatric solid TSC with specific focus on TSC markers, tumor microenvironment, signaling pathways, therapeutic resistance and potential future therapies to target pediatric TSC.
منابع مشابه
Cancer stem cells: therapeutic targets
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been identified as rare cellular populations in many cancers, including leukemia and solid tumors. This minor subpopulation of cancerous cells is immortal tumor-initiating cells which thought to be responsible for cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, recurrence and drug/radiation resistance. Low proliferative rate, high self-renewing capacity, differentiatio...
متن کاملA Glance into Cancer Stem Cells
The presence of stem cells in leukemia and solid tumors has been demonstrated in recent decades. Cancer stem cells have the potency of tumorigenesis; furthermore, they have the ability of self-renewing and differentiation like other stem cells. They also play important role in the process of tumor invasion and metastasis. Several studies have been performed to discover the spe...
متن کاملIdentification of side population cells (stem-like cell population) in pediatric solid tumor cell lines.
PURPOSE Recent evidence has supported the cancer stem cell theory that cancer contains a small number of cancer stem cells (CSC) as a reservoir of cancer cells. Only the CSC, but not most of the remaining constituent cancer cells, are thought to be responsible for tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis as well as cancer relapse, suggesting that the CSC should be targeted to eradicate the ca...
متن کاملTumorigenicity of Esophageal Cancer Stem Cells (ECSCs) in nude mouse xenograft model
Background and objectives: Modeling cancer in vivo is a very important tool to investigate cancer pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms involved in cancer progression. Laboratory mice are the most common animal used for rebuilding human cancer in vivo. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the main reason of failure in cancer therapy because of tumor relapse and metastasis. Isolation of cancer stem cell...
متن کاملRole of mesenchymal stem cells in growth and progression of cancer and prospective potentials in cancer therapy
Introduction: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are present in most tissues of the body. These cells are involved in various biological processes, such as maintaining tissue homeostasis and wound healing. Recent studies have shown that tumor associated MSCs (TA-MSCs) are also present in tumor microenvironment (TME) of most solid tumors. MSCs have a strong tendency to migration toward tumor tissues....
متن کاملEvaluating the Expression of Oct4 as a Prognostic Tumor Marker in Bladder Cancer
Objective(s)The key transcriptional regulator Oct4 is one of the self-renewal and differentiation-related factors in cancer stem cells, where it maintains "stemness" state. Cancer stem cells have been identified in a variety of solid malignancies. They are a small population of tumor cells with stem cell characteristics, which are a likely cause of relapse in cancer patients. Due to high incide...
متن کامل