Cancer Stem Cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are increasingly being recognized as the key determinative cells of malignancies. CSCs are described as relatively quiescent cells capable of self-renewal and the generation of more differentiated daughter cells that constitute the bulk of the tumor mass. While there is still debate as to the existence of a single subset of CSCs versus a collection of CSC variants in some tumors, a growing body of literature links CSCs to all steps of tumorigenesis, from initiation to metastasis. Even more ominously, however, evidence suggests that these cells are responsible for therapeutic resistance and relapse, with their persistence often meaning a poor clinical prognosis. For these reasons, CSC biology has become a vigorously studied area of cancer research.

Cancer Stem Cells Markers

Breast	Colon	Glioma	Liver	Lung	Melanoma	Ovarian	Pancreatic	Prostate
ALDH1	ABCB5	A2B5	ALDH1	ABCG2	ABCB5	ALDH1	ABCG2	A2B1
CD24	ALDH1	CD15	CD13	ALDH1	ALDH1	CD24	ALDH1	ALDH1
CD44	CD24	CD90	CD24	CD90	CD20	CD44	CD24	CD24
CD90	CD26	CD133	CD44	CD117	CD34	CD117	CD44	CD44
CD133	CD29	α₆-integrin	CD90	CD133	CD117	CD133	CD133	CD133
α₆-integrin	CD44	Nestin	CD133		CD133		c-Met	CD166
EpCAM	CD133		EpCAM		CD166		CXCR4	α₂β₁-integrin
p63	CD166		ICAM1		CD271		Nestin	α₆-integrin
	EpCAM		Sall4		Nestin		EpCAM
	LGR5