Animals ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; pathology

Colorectal cancer (CRC) as a common malignancy in the digestive tract, its incidence and mortality increase significantly in China. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as a small fraction of tumor initiating cells that are endowed with both self-renewal and tumor growth potential. They may be responsible for tumor progression, metastasis, relapse and drug-resistance. Therefore, the isolation and characterization of tumorigenic CSCs in CRC may help to devise novel diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This review briefly discusses the most recent advances in research on colorectal cancer stem cells including definition of the cancer stem cells, origin and specific markers of the colorectal CSCs. Transduction signal pathway involved in CSCs, potential therapeutic strategies targeting CSCs, and current issues in CSCs related research are also discussed.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Signal Transduction

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subpopulation of cancer cells with ability of initiating tumorigenesis, exist in many kinds of tumors including breast cancer. Cancer stem cells contribute to treatment resistance and relapse. Conventional treatments only kill differentiated cancer cells, but spare CSCs. Combining conventional treatments with therapeutic drugs targeting to CSCs will eradicate cancer cells more efficiently. Studying the molecular mechanisms of CSCs regulation is essential for developing new therapeutic strategies. Growing evidences showed CSCs are regulated by non-coding RNA (ncRNA) including microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and histone-modifiers, such as let-7, miR-93, miR-100, HOTAIR, Bmi-1 and EZH2. Herein we review the roles of microRNAs, lncRNAs and histone-modifiers especially Polycomb family proteins in regulating breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs).
Breast Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Histones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; RNA, Untranslated ; genetics ; metabolism

As pioneer of tumor stem cell research, leukemia stem cell research has not only important theoretical significance, but also clinical application potential. The survival and development of stem cells are directly impacted by their microenvironment. The research on leukemia stem cells and their microenvironment are now becoming a hot topic. The author presumes that stem cells are a population with heterogenecity and hierarchy; any single cell from the population is difficult to form a clone; the interaction between the leukemia stem cell and its microenvironment can be described by the concept of leukemia stem cell niche. In this article, the leukemia cell population with heterogenecity and hierarchy as well as leukemia stem cell niche were summarized and discussed.
Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Leukemia ; genetics ; pathology ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Stem Cell Niche ; cytology ; Stromal Cells ; cytology ; immunology

Actins ; metabolism ; Breast ; cytology ; metabolism ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Differentiation ; Female ; Humans ; Keratins ; metabolism ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Signal Transduction ; Stem Cells ; cytology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo review the leading roles of glioma stem cells (GSCs) and their sophisticated interactions with other cells in the tissue remodeling process of gliomagenesis.

DATA SOURCESPublished articles about assessing GSCs in tumor initiation, progression, and multiple interactions with other cells in the special microenvironment were selected using PubMed. The search terms were "glioma stem cells", "tumorigenesis", and "microenvironment".

STUDY SELECTIONArticles regarding the tissue remodeling of GSCs in gliomagenesis were selected.

RESULTSGSCs exhibit enhanced tumor-initiating ability, could reestablish tumor, and were resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Studying the role of GSCs in gliomagenesis helps to develop targeting therapy against GSCs, which seems to be a cure for gliomas. However, sophisticated interactions between GSCs and their local microenvironment during tumor remodeling, including integrating with partially differentiated tumor cells, GSCs niche, neural stem cells (NSCs), normal glia, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, may obscure the leading role of GSCs during gliomagenesis, and make single targeting therapy unsuccessful.

CONCLUSIONSUnderstanding the biological behaviour of GSCs and their regulatory mechanisms may directly impact current efforts for more directed therapeutics against the highly aggressive gliomas. For multiple possible sources to turning into GSCs, simply eradicating the existing GSCs is not enough to be a cure for gliomas, blocking the potential sources of GSCs and ameliorating the local tumor inducing/promoting microenvironment should be a reasonable strategy.

AC133 Antigen ; Antigens, CD ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Glioma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Peptides

Leukemia stem cells(LSC) are the root causes of the leukemia, and are also the main reason for the leukemia relapse. Researchers hope that there are some methods to specifically mark the LSC and to clear them for promoting the advancements in the treatment of leukemia. This review discusses the biological characteristics of LSC and its microenvironment, the current internationally recognized main methods for specific marking of LSC, including marking LSC self-renewal, apoptosis signaling pathways, microenvironment, cell cycle-related signaling pathways and LSC-specific immune phenotype, so as to eliminate LSC and minimal residual disease through these marking ways. But, at present, there are no specific methods to remove leukaemia stem cells independently, possibly the combination of LSC immune phenotype with blocking the microenvironment signaling pathways can target at and remove LSC, thus improving the prognosis of leukemia.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Leukemia ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; Signal Transduction ; Tumor Microenvironment

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression of CD133 in human larynx tumor cell line, Hep-2 cell line and observe proliferation and differentiation ability of CD133+ groups in vitro.

METHODSImmunocytochemical staining and flow cytometry were used to detect the expression of putative tumor-initiating cell marker CD133 in Hep-2 cell line, and the selective technique of immunomagnetic beads was applied to purify CD133 positive cells. CD133+ tumor cells were cultured and their ability of proliferation and differentiation were observed in vitro.

RESULTSOnly 3. 22% of cells in Hep-2 cell line expressed CD133. In serum-free RPMI1640, On days 3, 5 and 7, their UV absorption were 0. 320,0. 370 and 0. 558 respectively. Compared with CD133 - cells and control Hep-2 cells, CD133 + cells demonstrated increased proliferation capacity. The proportion of CD133+ cells decreased in culture as days passed. In twelve days of culture, the percentage of CD133+ cells decreased from 90. 88% to 4. 53 %.

CONCLUSIONSCD133 was one of makers for tumor-initiating cell of human laryngeal carcinoma, Hep-2 cell line. Its identification would provide a helpful tool to investigate the tumorigenic process of human laryngeal carcinoma and to develop targeted therapies.

AC133 Antigen ; Antigens, CD ; metabolism ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Carcinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Glycoproteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Peptides ; metabolism

In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that noncoding RNAs (ncRNA) are of crucial importance for human cancer. The functional relevance of ncRNAs is particularly evident for microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). miRNAs are endogenously expressed small RNA sequences that act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and have been extensively studied for their roles in cancers, whereas lncRNAs are emerging as important players in the cancer paradigm in recent years. These noncoding genes are often aberrantly expressed in a variety of human cancers. However, the biological functions of most ncRNAs remain largely unknown. Recently, evidence has begun to accumulate describing how ncRNAs are dysregulated in cancer and cancer stem cells, a subset of cancer cells harboring self-renewal and differentiation capacities. These studies provide insight into the functional roles that ncRNAs play in tumor initiation, progression, and resistance to therapies, and they suggest ncRNAs as attractive therapeutic targets and potentially useful diagnostic tools.
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; metabolism ; Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; therapy ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; RNA, Long Noncoding ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Untranslated ; genetics ; metabolism

Animals ; DNA Methylation ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Histones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Untranslated