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Review
. 2016 Jun;5(3):272-9.
doi: 10.21037/tlcr.2016.02.01.

Lung cancer stem cells-characteristics, phenotype

Georgia Hardavella  1 , Rachel George  1 , Tariq Sethi  1
Affiliations
Review

Lung cancer stem cells-characteristics, phenotype

Georgia Hardavella et al. Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Lung cancer remains a major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide with unfavourable prognosis mainly due to the late stage of disease at presentation. High incidence and disease recurrence rates are a fact despite advances in treatment. Ongoing experimental and clinical observations suggest that the malignant phenotype in lung cancer is sustained by lung cancer stem cells (CSCs) which are putative stem cells situated throughout the airways that have the potential of initiating lung cancer formation. These cells share the common characteristic of increased proliferation and differentiation, long life span and resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This review summarises the current knowledge on their characteristics and phenotype.

Keywords: Stem cells; characteristics; lung cancer; phenotype; stem cell markers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Possible sites of tumor initiation and the possible stem/progenitor cells involved in each type of lung cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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