Abstract

Cancer is increasingly being viewed as a stem cell disease, both in its propagation by a minority of cells with stem-cell-like properties and in its possible derivation from normal tissue stem cells. But stem cell activity is tightly controlled, raising the question of how normal regulation might be subverted in carcinogenesis. The long-known association between cancer and chronic tissue injury, and the more recently appreciated roles of Hedgehog and Wnt signalling pathways in tissue regeneration, stem cell renewal and cancer growth together suggest that carcinogenesis proceeds by misappropriating homeostatic mechanisms that govern tissue repair and stem cell self-renewal.

1. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
2. Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
3. Department of Urology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
4. Department of Oncology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA

Correspondence to: Philip A. Beachy^1,4 Email: pbeachy@jhmi.edu

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