Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- SECTION I CHARACTERIZATION OF CANCER STEM CELLS
- 1 Purification and characterization of cancer stem cells
- 2 Prostate cancer stem cells
- 3 Melanoma cancer stem cells
- 4 Mammospheres and breast carcinoma
- SECTION II THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS OF CANCER STEM CELLS
- SECTION III TARGETING CANCER STEM CELL PATHWAYS
- Index
- Plate section
- References
1 - Purification and characterization of cancer stem cells
from SECTION I - CHARACTERIZATION OF CANCER STEM CELLS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- SECTION I CHARACTERIZATION OF CANCER STEM CELLS
- 1 Purification and characterization of cancer stem cells
- 2 Prostate cancer stem cells
- 3 Melanoma cancer stem cells
- 4 Mammospheres and breast carcinoma
- SECTION II THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS OF CANCER STEM CELLS
- SECTION III TARGETING CANCER STEM CELL PATHWAYS
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
The processes underlying the etiology of cancer have been the fodder for several theories for a century (for a discussion of the earliest theories, see the subsequent discussion and previous studies). Central to all these theories is the cell of origin for the transformation from a normal to a cancerous cell. The prevailing hypothesis, until recent years, was that any cell that had acquired multiple genetic hits could give rise to a tumor. The cancer stem cell hypothesis posits that only a small subset of cells, termed tumor-initiating cells or cancer stem cells (CSCs), is capable of giving rise to and maintaining tumors. Therefore all CSCs must display several characteristics: they must be the only cells that are capable of giving rise to a tumor (tumorigenic), they must be able to maintain the population of tumorigenic cells (self-renewal), and they must be able to give rise to the heterogeneous cells composing the entire tumor (pluripotency). When a CSC is transplanted into an immunocompromised mouse, self-renewal and pluripotency are vital for the formation of a tumor that recapitulates the original (reviewed by Wang and Dick).
HISTORY OF CANCER STEM CELLS (CSCs)
Tumors are masses containing heterogeneous populations of cells with different biological characteristics. Although there has been a marked increase in the number of publications regarding CSCs in the past 14 years, the notion that cancer cells have properties reminiscent of stem cells is not a new theory.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Cancer Stem Cells , pp. 1 - 14Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009