title: Physiological and pathological role of local and immigrating colonic stem cells.
abstract: The latest avenue of research is revealing the existence of and role for the colonic stem cells in the physiological renewal of the mucosa and in pathological circumstances where they have both positive and negative effects. In the case of human colon, different levels of stem cell compartments exist. First, the crypt epithelial stem cells, which have a role in the normal crypt epithelial cell dynamics and in colorectal carcinogenesis. Close to the crypts, the second layer of stem cells can be found; the local subepithelial stem cell niche, including the pericryptic subepithelial myofibroblasts that regulate the epithelial cell differentiation and have a crucial role in cancer progression and chronic inflammation-related fibrosis. The third level of stem cell compartment is the immigrating bone-marrow-derived stem cells, which have an important role in wound healing after severe mucosal inflammation, but are also involved in cancer invasion. This paper focuses on stem cell biology in the context of physiological and pathological processes in the human colon.
authors.affiliation: Ferenc Sipos, Gábor Valcz, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1088 Budapest, Hungary. dr.siposf@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ferenc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sipos
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valcz
authors.forename: Béla
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Molnár
mesh_terms: D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D003106:Colon / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014945:Wound Healing