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Review
. 2018 Jul 17;6(3):77.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines6030077.

Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Judy S Crabtree  1 , Lucio Miele  2
Affiliations
Review

Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Judy S Crabtree et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSC) have been implicated in tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, recurrence, and resistance to therapy. The origins of BCSCs remain controversial due to tumor heterogeneity and the presence of such small side populations for study, but nonetheless, cell surface markers and their correlation with BCSC functionality continue to be identified. BCSCs are driven by persistent activation of developmental pathways, such as Notch, Wnt, Hippo, and Hedgehog and new treatment strategies that are aimed at these pathways are in preclinical and clinical development.

Keywords: Hedgehog; Hippo; Notch; Wnt; breast cancer; stem cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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