title: Research progress in cancer stem cells and their drug resistance.
abstract: Traditional theories suggest that tumor growth occurs when all tumor cells work together and result in proliferation, so treatment has been mainly directed against the majority of the cells in tumor tissue, which often relapse, metastasize, and lead to treatment failure. As cancer stem cells have been successfully isolated from different tumor tissues, in-depth study of their function in relation to traditional cancer treatment faces enormous challenges. At the same time, a new theoretical basis has been provided for the in-depth study of tumorigenesis and the evaluation of prognosis of cancer therapy. Also, new ideas have been introduced for cancer therapy. Therefore, radical treatment of cancer can be achieved through killing cancer stem cells. This article reviews the research progress on cancer stem cells and their drug resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Second People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan 650031, P.R. China. yh2002523@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chang-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong-Shou
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D004260:DNA Repair; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm