title: Breast cancer stem cell markers - the rocky road to clinical applications.
abstract: Lately, understanding the role of cancer stem cells in tumor initiation and progression became a major focus in stem cell biology and in cancer research. Considerable efforts, such as the recent studies by Honeth and colleagues, published in the June issue of Breast Cancer Research, are directed towards developing clinical applications of the cancer stem cell concepts. This work shows that the previously described CD44+CD24- stem cell phenotype is associated with basal-type breast cancers in human patients, in particular BRCA1 inherited cancers, but does not correlate with clinical outcome. These very interesting findings caution that the success of our efforts in translating cancer stem cell research into clinical practice depends on how thorough and rigorous we are at characterizing these cells.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dontu
mesh_terms: D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000032:analysis; D000080924:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D051927:CD24 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000032:analysis; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000032:analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology; D011379:Prognosis; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051927:CD24 Antigen; C497889:CD24 protein, human; C497483:CD44 protein, human; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D007527:Isoenzymes; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D000080924:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; C510223:ALDH1A1 protein, human; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase