Cancer stem cells: constantly evolving and functionally heterogeneous therapeutic targets.
Elucidating the origin of and dynamic interrelationship between intratumoral cell subpopulations has clear clinical significance in helping to understand the cellular basis of treatment response, therapeutic resistance, and tumor relapse. Cancer stem cells (CSC), together with clonal evolution driven by genetic alterations, generate cancer cell heterogeneity commonly observed in clinical samples. The 2013 Shanghai International Symposium on Cancer Stem Cells brought together leaders in the field to highlight the most recent progress in phenotyping, characterizing, and targeting CSCs and in elucidating the relationship between the cell-of-origin of cancer and CSCs. Discussions from the symposium emphasize the urgent need in developing novel therapeutics to target the constantly evolving CSCs.
Authors' Affiliations: Research Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; and Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Smithville, Texas tyang2013sh@gmail.com dtang@mdanderson.org.
Tao
T
Yang
Authors' Affiliations: Research Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; and Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Smithville, Texas.
Kiera
K
Rycaj
Authors' Affiliations: Research Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; and Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Smithville, Texas.
Zhong-Min
ZM
Liu
Authors' Affiliations: Research Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; and Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Smithville, TexasAuthors' Affiliations: Research Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; and Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Smithville, Texas tyang2013sh@gmail.com dtang@mdanderson.org.
Dean G
DG
Tang
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*