Cancer stem cell surface markers on normal stem cells

Abstract

The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis has captured theattention of many scientists. It is believed that elimination ofCSCs could possibly eradicate the whole cancer. CSC surfacemarkers provide molecular targeted therapies for variouscancers, using therapeutic antibodies specific for the CSCsurface markers. Various CSC surface markers have beenidentified and published. Interestingly, most of the markersused to identify CSCs are derived from surface markers presenton human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or adult stem cells. Inthis review, we classify the currently known 40 CSC surfacemarkers into 3 different categories, in terms of their expressionin hESCs, adult stem cells, and normal tissue cells. Approximately 73% of current CSC surface markers appear tobe present on embryonic or adult stem cells, and they arerarely expressed on normal tissue cells. The remaining CSCsurface markers are considerably expressed even in normaltissue cells, and some of them have been extensively validatedas CSC surface markers by various research groups. Wediscuss the significance of the categorized CSC surfacemarkers, and provide insight into why surface markers onhESCs are an attractive source to find novel surface markers onCSCs.