Neurosurgery Department, UF College of Medicine
Abstract from "Neurosurgery":Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis: Failures and Pitfalls
Based on the clonal evolution model and the assumption that the vast majority of tumor cells are able to propagate and drive tumor growth, the goal of cancer treatment has traditionally been to kill all cancerous cells. This theory has been challenged recently by the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis - that a rare population of tumor cells, with stem cell characteristics, is responsible for tumor growth, resistance, and recurrence. Evidence for putative CSCs has been described in blood, breast, lung, prostate, colon, liver, pancreas, and brain. This new hypothesis would propose that indiscriminate killing of cancer cells would not be as effective as selective targeting of the cells that are driving long-term growth (i.e. the CSCs), and that treatment failure is often the result of CSCs escaping traditional therapies.
Co-Authors:
Maryam Rahman, MD*
Loic Deleyrolle, PhD*
Vinata Vedam-Mai, PhD*
Hassan Azari, PhD*
Muhammad Abd-El-Barr, MD, PhD*†
Brent A. Reynolds, PhD*
*Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; †Department of Anatomical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran