The intestinal epithelial stem cells and cancer stem cells

Abstract

Intestinal mucosa is renewed throughout life in a repeating cycle of proliferation, differentiation, and cell death. Intestinal stem cells play a very important role in the maintenance of the intestinal environment, which is frequently exposed to various factors such as food, infections, microbiota elements, drugs, and metabolic products. Therefore, identification of intestinal epithelial stem cells might help in understanding intestinal regulation. On the other hand, dividing intestinal stem cells may, by an unknown mechanism, give rise to cancer stem cells that cause the various malignant types of colon cancer. In this paper, current developments in the study of the regulation of both intestinal stem cells and cancer stem cells are reviewed.