Advances in Therapeutic Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells within the Tumor Microenvironment: An Updated Review.

ABSTRACT: Despite great strides being achieved in improving cancer patients' outcomes through better therapies and combinatorial treatment, several hurdles still remain due to therapy resistance, cancer recurrence and metastasis. Drug resistance culminating in relapse continues to be associated with fatal disease. The cancer stem cell theory posits that tumors are driven by specialized cancer cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are a subpopulation of cancer cells known to be resistant to therapy and cause metastasis. Whilst the debate on whether CSCs are the origins of the primary tumor rages on, CSCs have been further characterized in many cancers with data illustrating that CSCs display great abilities to self-renew, resist therapies due to enhanced epithelial to mesenchymal (EMT) properti

SUBMITTER: Dzobo K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7464860 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature