Topic Highlight
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2014; 20(14): 3835-3846
Published online Apr 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i14.3835
Figure 1
Figure 1 Role of cancer stem cell and anti-cancer stem cell therapy in colorectal cancer. The limited numbers of cancer stem cell (CSC) within the bulk of the tumor may account for their capability to escape conventional therapies, leading to relapse and metastasis; therefore, CSCs are now recognized as a specific target for the complete elimination of colorectal cancer. CSCs are resistant to conventional chemotherapy: the tumor is reduced in size in the short term, but eventually relapses, driven by CSCs. When CSC-targeted therapy or CSC-differentiating therapy is combined with conventional therapy, a tumor will progressively exhaust its growth potential.