Tumor stem cells

In addition to their inherent self-sustaining properties, brain tumor stem cells may be more resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy than other tumor cells. Bao et al. (2006) found glioma stem cells (CD133+) were relatively radioresistant compared to CD133- tumor cells and preferentially activated the DNA damage checkpoint response. This relative resistance to standard treatment approaches of tumor stem cells compared to the majority of other cells within a tumor may underlie our current inability to cure patients with aggressive brain tumors such as glioblastoma. 

Intriguingly, besides providing the essential function of increased tumor perfusion, new vessel growth may also promote tumor growth through a separate mechanism. Neural stem cells and likely brain tumor stem cells reside in a perivascular niche, or specialized miaoenvironment, that both supports the cells and controls proliferation and fate determination (Calabrese et al. 2007). New vessel growth may therefore, also support brain tumor stem cells by providing new niche sites. 

Calabrese C, Poppleton H, Kocak M, Hogg TL, Fuller C, Hamner B, Oh EY, Gaber MW, Finklestein D, AUen M et al (2007) A perivascular niche for brain tumor stem cells. Cancer Cell 11 69-82... 

Hamburger, A. W. and Salmon, S.E., Primary bioassay of human tumor stem cells, Science, 197, 461 63, 1977. 

Vexcovi, A., Galli, R. and Reynolds, B. (2006) Brain tumor stem cells. Nat Rev Cancer 6, 425-436. 

Salmon, S.E., B.G. Durie, L. Young, R.M. Liu, P.W. Trown, and N. Stebbing, Effects of cloned human leukocyte interferons in the human tumor stem cell assay. I Clin Oncol, 1983.1(3) 217-25. 

Volume II, Embryonic and Adult Stem Cells, provides an analysis of various types of stem cells and their therapeutic potential. It concentrates particularly on embryonic and neural stem cells. This volume covers the broader potential of adult stem cells its biology, significance and potential for therapy. This volume also describes the potential of stem cells for autologous transplantation, the stem cell theory of carcinogenesis, particularly the existence of brain tumor stem cells, and the therapeutic potential of gene therapy for cell-based therapy. 

This plasma cell malignancy is one of the models of neoplastic disease in humans because it arises from a single tumor stem cell, and the tumor cells produce a marker protein (myeloma immunoglobulin) that allows the total body burden of tumor cells to be quantified. Multiple myeloma principally involves the bone marrow and the surrounding bone, causing bone pain, lytic lesions, bone fractures, and anemia as well as an increased susceptibility to infection. 

Keywords Amyloid beta peptides Brain tumor stem cells Caspase-3 Cyclin-dependent kinase Glioblastoma Micro RNA Pentraxin... 

Brain Tumors—Subpopulations of Brain Tumor Stem Cells. 804... 

Brain cancers constitute a genetically and phenotypically diverse class of proliferative neoplasms derived from incompletely differentiated neuroglial stem cells, sometimes referred to as brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs). Early pathogenetic events... 

Herber DL, Mercer M, Roth LM, Symmonds K, Maloney J, Wilson N (2007) Microglial activation is required for Abeta clearance after intracranial injection of Upopolysaccharide in APP transgenic mice. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol 2 222-231 Hide T, Takezaki T, Nakamura H, Kuratsu J, Kondo T (2008) Brain tumor stem cells as research and treatment targets. Brain Tumor Pathol 25 67-72 Hill JM, Zhao Y, Qement C, Neumann DM, Lukiw WJ (2009) HSV-1 infection of human brain cells induces miRNA-146a and Alzheimer-type inflammatory signaling. Neuroreport 20 1500-1505... 

Cell cycle-specific (CCS) drug An anticarK er agent that acts selectively on tumor stem cells when they are traversing the cell cycle and not when they are in the G, or resting, phase... 

Dean M, Fojo T, Bates S. Tumor stem cells and drug resistance. Nat Rev Cancer 2005 5 275-284. 

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