Evolution of the Cancer Stem Cell Model

TL;DR: In this review, current results on biomarkers, gene signatures, signaling pathways and epigenetic regulators that are common in embryonic and cancer stem cells are highlighted and their potential use to design next generation biological and pharmaceutical approaches for regenerative medicine and cancer therapies are discussed.

TL;DR: Increased understanding of the factors that create and contribute to tumor heterogeneity may support the design of therapies that affect CSC function and their microenvironments.

TL;DR: Recent advances in this field with a focus on cell fate changes and the epithelial–mesenchymal transition are reviewed—two distinct, yet closely related, forms of plasticity with fundamental roles in homeostasis and cancer.

TL;DR: This review highlights the prominent roles of HA as a modulator of the tumor microenvironment and addresses the recent advances regarding HA function in cancer stem cell niches.

TL;DR: The ability to prospectively identify tumorigenic cancer cells will facilitate the elucidation of pathways that regulate their growth and survival and strategies designed to target this population may lead to more effective therapies.

TL;DR: It is shown that hypermutation localized to small genomic regions, ‘kataegis’, is found in many cancer types, and this results reveal the diversity of mutational processes underlying the development of cancer.

TL;DR: It is reported that the induction of an EMT in immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (HMLEs) results in the acquisition of mesenchymal traits and in the expression of stem-cell markers, and it is shown that those cells have an increased ability to form mammospheres, a property associated with mammARY epithelial stem cells.