The cancer stem cell niche: how essential is the niche in regulating stemness of tumor cells?
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are tumor cells that have the principal properties of self-renewal, clonal tumor initiation capacity, and clonal long-term repopulation potential. CSCs reside in niches, which are anatomically distinct regions within the tumor microenvironment. These niches maintain the principle properties of CSCs, preserve their phenotypic plasticity, protect them from the immune system, and facilitate their metastatic potential. In this perspective, we focus on the CSC niche and discuss its contribution to tumor initiation and progression. Since CSCs survive many commonly employed cancer therapies, we examine the prospects of targeting the niche components as preferable therapeutic targets.
Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0452, USA.
Vicki
V
Plaks
Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0452, USA.
Niwen
N
Kong
Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0452, USA. Electronic address: zena.werb@ucsf.edu.
Zena
Z
Werb
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D055153:Stem Cell Niche / Q000276:immunology*; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000276:immunology*