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Looking ahead in cancer stem cell research

Nature Biotechnology volume 27, pages 44–46 (2009)Cite this article

The history of the stem cell field offers pointers for future research on cancer stem cells.

The idea that many cancers are organized as hierarchies sustained by cancer stem cells (CSCs) at their apex has generated almost breathless excitement in many quarters of the cancer research community. Hardly a week goes by without a CSC spotting in yet another cancer or an assertion that CSCs are responsible for a particular treatment failure. In the rush to jump on the CSC bandwagon, many have lost sight of the historical development of this field and the fundamental stem cell principles that should underpin experimental strategies. A recent report in Nature from Quintana et al.1 provides a jarring caution to uncritical acceptance of the CSC hypothesis as universal for all tumors. These authors demonstrate that the original observation of the rarity of CSCs in melanoma (on the order of 1 in 105 cells) was an artifact of the xenotransplant tumor-initiation assay, caused by residual innate immunity of the recipient mouse. When a more profoundly immune-deficient recipient was used, 15–25% of the tumor cells exhibited CSC activity, a frequency that argues against any meaningful hierarchical organization in human melanoma and raises the question of whether CSCs exist for this tumor type.

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Figure 1: Models of tumor heterogeneity.

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  1. John E. Dick is in the Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, and Department of Molecular Genetics, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada. jdick@uhnres.utoronto.ca,

    John E Dick

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  1. John E Dick
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Dick, J. Looking ahead in cancer stem cell research. Nat Biotechnol 27, 44–46 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0109-44

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