Vienna Cancer Stem Cell Club (VCSCC): 20 year jubilee and future perspectives

Abstract

Introduction: The Vienna Cancer Stem Cell Club (VCSCC) was launched by a group of scientists in Vienna in 2002.

Areas covered: Major aims of the VCSCC are to support research on cancer stem cells (CSC) in hematopoietic malignancies and to translate CSC-related markers and targets into clinical application. A primary focus of research in the VCSCC is the leukemic stem cell (LSC). Between 2013 and 2021, members of the VCSCC established a special research program on myeloproliferative neoplasms and since 2008, members of the VCSCC run the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Hematology and Oncology. In all these years, the VCSCC provided a robust intellectual platform for translational hematology and LSC research in Vienna. Furthermore, the VCSCC interacts with several national and international study groups and societies in the field. Representatives of the VCSCC also organized a number of international meetings and conferences on neoplastic stem cells, including LSC, in the past 15 years, and contributed to the definition and classification of CSC/LSC and related pre-malignant and malignant conditions.

Expert opinion: The VCSCC will continue to advance the field and to develop LSC-detecting and LSC-eradicating concepts through which diagnosis, prognostication, and therapy of blood cancer patients should improve.

Keywords: CSC; Curative anti-cancer therapy; LSC; Personalized medicine; Precision medicine; Stem Cells; Stem cell transplantation.