Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Mar 11;11(3):345.
doi: 10.3390/cancers11030345.

Conversion of Stem Cells to Cancer Stem Cells: Undercurrent of Cancer Initiation

Said M Afify  1   2 , Masaharu Seno  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Conversion of Stem Cells to Cancer Stem Cells: Undercurrent of Cancer Initiation

Said M Afify et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) also known as cancer-initiating cells (CIC), are responsible for the sustained and uncontrolled growth of malignant tumors and are proposed to play significant roles in metastasis and recurrence. Several hypotheses have proposed that the events in either stem and/or differentiated cells, such as genomic instability, inflammatory microenvironment, cell fusion, and lateral gene transfer, should be considered as the possible origin of CSCs. However, until now, the exact origin of CSC has been obscure. The development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in 2007, by Yamanaka's group, has been met with much fervency and hailed as a breakthrough discovery by the scientific and research communities, especially in regeneration therapy. The studies on the development of CSC from iPSCs should also open a new page of cancer research, which will help in designing new therapies applicable to CSCs. Currently most reviews have focused on CSCs and CSC niches. However, the insight into the niche before the CSC niche should also be of keen interest. This review introduces the novel concept of cancer initiation introducing the conversion of iPSCs to CSCs and proposes a relationship between the inflammatory microenvironment and cancer initiation as the key concept of the cancer-inducing niche responsible for the development of CSC.

Keywords: cancer stem cells; cancer-inducing niche; chronic inflammation; induced pluripotent stem cells; stem cell.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration for the stochastic and cancer stem cell (CSC) models of tumorigenesis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representative scheme showing differentiation potential of pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into all cell types.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Summary of inflammation involvement in tumor initiation and promotion. ROS: reactive oxygen species; DC: dendritic cell; NK: natural killer.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Stem cell differentiation in the stem cell niche and cancer-inducing niche.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The hypothesis of stem cell (ESCs/iPSCs) differentiation under different cancer-inducing niches.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dagogo-Jack I., Shaw A.T. Tumour heterogeneity and resistance to cancer therapies. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 2018;15:81–94. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.166. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ding L., Ellis M.J., Li S., Larson D.E., Chen K., Wallis J.W., Harris C.C., McLellan M.D., Fulton R.S., Fulton L.L. Genome Remodeling in a Basal-like Breast Cancer Metastasis and Xenograft. Nature. 2010;464:999–1005. doi: 10.1038/nature08989. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Greaves M., Maley C.C. Clonal Evolution in Cancer. Nature. 2012;481:306–313. doi: 10.1038/nature10762. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collisson E.A., Cho R.J., Gray J.W. What are we learning from the cancer genome? Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 2012;9:621–630. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.159. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boveri T. Zur Frage der Entstehung maligner Tumoren. Verlag von Gustav Fischer; Jena, Germany: 1914. pp. 29–32.

LinkOut - more resources