Introduction at the special issue on implications of cancer stem/progenitor cell concepts in molecular oncology and novel targeted therapies

摘要

Recent advances in the field of adult stem/progenitor cell and cancer stem/progenitor eel! research in molecular oncology have led to important changes in our understanding of molecular aspects at the basis of the carcinogenic process. The hypothesis of cancer stem/progenitor cells underlining their critical implications in cancer initiation, progression and metas-tases at distant sites and treatment resistance has suspired great interest and optimism to develop novel therapies targeting these immature cancer cells to prevent disease relapse and death of cancer patients. More particularly, it has been shown that some cancer types may originate from the malignant transformation of tissue-resident adult stem/progenitor cells or their early differentiated progenies with a high self-renewal potential into cancer stem/progenitor cells. The cancer stem/ progenitor cells expressing stem cell-like markers such as CD133, CD44hlgh, aldhehyde dehydrogenase (ALDHhlgh), nestin and/or ABCG2high multidrug transporter and endowed with stem cell-like properties have been identified in the most hema-tological cancers and solids tumors. The cancer types harboring a highly leukemic or tumorigenic stem cell-like subpopula-tion include leukemias, lymphomas, sarcomas, melanomas, brain tumors and diverse epithelial cancers such as skin, head and neck, cervical, lung, liver, thyroid, renal, esophageal, gastrointestinal, colon, bladder, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers. It has been shown that cancer stem/progenitor cells were able to generate a heterogeneous population of cancer cells that recapitulated original patient's cancer subtypes.