Cancer Stem Cell and Differentiation 2023
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Oncology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2024) | Viewed by 1819
Special Issue Editor
Interests: toxicology; stem cell biology; oncology; cell-based food technology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as “cancer root cells” with the ability to self-renew, dividing to give rise to malignant stem cells as well as to produce the phenotypically heterogenous, differentiated tumor cells that form the masses of tumors. The percentage of CSCs in total tumor mass is very low (0.05~3% of total cancer cells), but because of their following unique cellular properties CSCs are considered the ultimate obstacle to cancer therapy. CSCs also express significant drug efflux systems, resulting in resistance to cancer drugs. Furthermore, the favorable microenvironment surrounding CSCs is usually hypoxic, which is a state of low oxygen tension found in numerous solid tumors. They also adopt a genetic program responsible for the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to migrate to surrounding tissues. They then convert into the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET), in which cells re-attach to the matrix and become highly proliferative to generate tumors. The above speaks to the plasticity of CSCs, such as expressing tissue-specific and cellular proliferation markers (CD44, CD133, TGFb, etc.) at the EMT state while expressing aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) at the MET state. In this context, CSCs selectively targeting imaging probes and small-molecule therapies will be described as appealing approaches, and recent positive preclinical results validate their potential. This emerging interdisciplinary field includes the discovery and development of CSCs targeting molecule-specific mechanisms. Therefore, targeted therapies and diagnostics have generated CSCs as a unique choice of ultimate cancer treatment by targeting tumor-specific features. We warmly welcome submissions, including original papers and reviews.
Dr. Jiyou Han
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- cancer stem cell
- cancer cell
- stem cell
- epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
- hypoxia
- metastasis
- recurrency
- differentiation
- microenvironment
