Therapeutic implications of cancer stem cell: Challenges and opportunities in translational studies

Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are rare in cancer population, but they can reconstruct the whole bulk of tumor if most of the cancer cells are killed by radiotherapy or chemotherapy. However, the mechanism of CSCs’ self-renewal, regeneration and therapeutic resistance is still unknown. Here we discuss the role of CSCs in cancer relapse and progression, as well as their diagnostic and therapeutic potentials. We also confer the biomarkers in pre-clinical models and clinical trials to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of CSCs. In addition, we discuss the potential therapeutic strategies of eradicating CSCs in tumors, such as cytotoxic, radiation, signaling pathway and differentiation therapies.