Cancer Stem Cells in Translational Oncology

What is it about?

Stem cell research is a rapidly developing field that offers effective treatment for a variety of malignant and non-malignant diseases. Stem cell is a regenerative medicine associated with the replacement, repair, and restoration of injured tissue. Stem cell research is a promising field having maximum therapeutic potential. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the cells within the tumor that posse’s capacity of self-renewal and have a root cause for the failure of traditional therapies leading to re-occurrence of cancer. CSCs have been identified in blood, breast, brain, and colon cancer. Traditional therapies target only fast-growing tumor mass but not slow-dividing cancer stem cells. It has been shown that embryonic pathways such as Wnt, Hedgehog and Notch, control self-renewal capacity and involved in cancer stem cells maintenance. Targeting of these pathways may be effective in eradicating cancer stem cells and preventing chemotherapy and radiotherapy resistance. Targeting CSCs has become a most effective approach to improve the cancer survival by eradicating the main root cause of cancer.

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Why is it important?

There are many more possibilities to find out new targets to eliminate or control CSCs. Targeting their pathways or forced them to go in the asymmetric division is a better option but yet need to be more specific to make a permanent cure. New CSCs markers will need to identify and other possibilities also to prevent cancer from relapse and force tumor complete treatment. Many better finding is possible in this field as an understanding of the stem cell program, control of self-renewal, in an attempt to develop novel, stem cell-directed therapies which output in minimizes the long-term side effects for our patients should always remain the ultimate goal of target CSCs. This area gives us new hope to find out a more effective way to overcome the conventional therapies side effects and prevent the mortality rate occurs due to relapse of tumor and side effects due to chemotherapeutic drugs. The ongoing integration of physics, chemistry, engineering and biology opens up a highly challenging and next level of life science research. This development provides many exciting opportunities for creative researchers to contribute to better understanding and ultimately result out in curing cancer.