Abstract

Radiobiological research over the past decades has provided evidence that cancer stem cell content and the intrinsic radiosensitivity of cancer stem cells varies between tumours, thereby affecting their radiocurability. Translation of this knowledge into predictive tests for the clinic has so far been hampered by the lack of methods to discriminate between stem cells and non-stem cells. New technologies allow isolation of cells expressing specific surface markers that are differentially expressed in tumour cell subpopulations that are enriched for cancer stem cells. Combining these techniques with functional radiobiological assays holds the potential to elucidate the role of cancer stem cells in radioresistance in individual tumours, and to use this knowledge for the development of predictive markers for optimization of radiotherapy.

Author affiliations

1. Michael Baumann and Mechthild Krause are at the Department of Radiation Oncology and OncoRay Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, and Michael Baumann is also at the University Cancer Center, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
2. Richard Hill is at the Department of Medical Biophysics, Princess Margaret Hospital, Ontario Cancer Institute, University of Toronto, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9, Canada.

Correspondence to: Michael Baumann¹ Email: michael.baumann@uniklinikum-dresden.de

Published online 30 May 2008

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