Cancer stem cells as targets for immunotherapy

Abstract

Current cancer therapies target the bulk of the tumour, while a population of highly resistant tumour cells may be able to repopulate the tumour and metastasize to new sites. Cancer cells with such stem cell-like characteristics can be identified based on their phenotypical and/or functional features which may open up ways for their targeted elimination. In this review we discuss potential off-target effects of inhibiting cancer stem-cell self-renewal pathways on immune cells, and summarize some recent immunological studies specifically targeting cancer stem cells based on their unique antigen expression.