Cancer stem cells: biological functions and therapeutically targeting

Almost all tumors are composed of a heterogeneous cell population, making them difficult to treat. A small cancer stem cell population with a low proliferation rate and a high tumorigenic potential is thought to be responsible for cancer development, metastasis and resistance to therapy. Stem cells...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 8169 - 8185
Main Authors:	Ciurea, Marius Eugen, Georgescu, Ada Maria, Purcaru, Stefana Oana, Artene, Stefan-Alexandru, Emami, Ghazaleh Hooshyar, Boldeanu, Mihai Virgil, Tache, Daniela Elise, Dricu, Anica
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 09-05-2014 Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
Subjects:	Animals Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use Cancer cancer stem cell cancer stem cell markers cancer therapy Cellular biology Humans Molecular Targeted Therapy - methods Neoplasms - drug therapy Neoplasms - metabolism Neoplasms - pathology Neoplastic Stem Cells - drug effects Neoplastic Stem Cells - metabolism Neoplastic Stem Cells - pathology Review Signal transduction Signal Transduction - drug effects signalling pathways Stem cells tumorigenicity
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Summary:	Almost all tumors are composed of a heterogeneous cell population, making them difficult to treat. A small cancer stem cell population with a low proliferation rate and a high tumorigenic potential is thought to be responsible for cancer development, metastasis and resistance to therapy. Stem cells were reported to be involved in both normal development and carcinogenesis, some molecular mechanisms being common in both processes. No less controversial, stem cells are considered to be important in treatment of malignant diseases both as targets and drug carriers. The efforts to understand the role of different signalling in cancer stem cells requires in depth knowledge about the mechanisms that control their self-renewal, differentiation and malignant potential. The aim of this paper is to discuss insights into cancer stem cells historical background and to provide a brief review of the new therapeutic strategies for targeting cancer stem cells.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:	1422-0067 1661-6596 1422-0067
DOI:	10.3390/ijms15058169