title: Evolution of normal and neoplastic tissue stem cells: progress after Robert Hooke.
abstract: The appearance of stem cells coincides with the transition from single-celled organisms to metazoans. Stem cells are capable of self-renewal as well as differentiation. Each tissue is maintained by self-renewing tissue-specific stem cells. The accumulation of mutations that lead to preleukaemia are in the blood-forming stem cell, while the transition to leukaemia stem cells occurs in the clone at a progenitor stage. All leukaemia and cancer cells escape being removed by scavenger macrophages by expressing the 'don't eat me' signal CD47. Blocking antibodies to CD47 are therapeutics for all cancers, and are currently being tested in clinical trials in the US and UK.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA irv@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Irving
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Weissman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D051928:CD47 Antigen / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D051928:CD47 Antigen
keywords: cancer; competition; leukaemia; neoplasm; stem cell