Targeting breast cancer stem cells: fishing season open!
-
* Corresponding author: Christophe Ginestier christophe.ginestier@inserm.fr
Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille, Laboratoire d'Oncologie Moléculaire, UMR891 Inserm/Institut Paoli-Calmettes, 27, Bd Lei Roure, BP 30059, 13273 Marseille CEDEX 09, France
Breast Cancer Research 2010, 12:312 doi:10.1186/bcr2636
Published: 21 September 2010Abstract
Studies describing the tumor as a hierarchically organized cell population have changed the classical oncogenesis view and propose new therapeutic strategies. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to sustain tumor initiation/maintenance, therapy resistance, and systemic metastases. Targeting this tumor cell population is crucial to achieve a true cancer cure. A large research effort is now aiming to develop drugs targeting CSCs, based either on a priori understanding of key pathways regulating CSC biology or on high-throughput screening to identify novel targets and compounds.