title: Brain cancer stem-like cells.
abstract: Both stem cells and cancer cells are thought to be capable of unlimited proliferation. Moreover, many tumours and cancer cell lines express stem cell markers, including adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette transporters, by which the cells pump out specific fluorescent dyes as well as anti-cancer drugs, suggesting either that cancer cells resemble stem cells or that cancers contain stem-like cells. Using the common characteristics of brain tumour cells and neural stem cells, several research groups have succeeded in identifying stem-like cells (cancer stem-like cells) in brain tumours and brain cancer cell lines. The purified cancer stem-like cells, but not the other cancer cells, self-renew and form tumours when transplanted in vivo. Thus, cancer stem-like cells in brain tumours might be a crucial target for anti-brain tumour therapy.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2PY, UK. tkondo@cdb.riken.jp
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002450:Cell Communication; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*