Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Oct 26, 2016; 8(10): 316-331
Published online Oct 26, 2016. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v8.i10.316
Update on acute myeloid leukemia stem cells: New discoveries and therapeutic opportunities
Maximilian Stahl, Tae Kon Kim, Amer M Zeidan
Maximilian Stahl, Tae Kon Kim, Amer M Zeidan, Section of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510-3222, United States
Author contributions: Stahl M and Zeidan AM wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Stahl M, Kim TK and Zeidan AM edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Amer M Zeidan receives Honoraria from Ariad, Pfizer, Incyte and Celgene. Maximilian Stahl and Tae Kon Kim have no conflict of interests to declare for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Amer M Zeidan, MBBS, Assistant Professor, Section of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06510-3222, United States. amer.zeidan@yale.edu
Telephone: +1-203-2004363 Fax: +1-203-2002360
Received: May 23, 2016
Peer-review started: May 23, 2016
First decision: July 6, 2016
Revised: August 11, 2016
Accepted: August 27, 2016
Article in press: August 29, 2016
Published online: October 26, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Leukemia stem cell (LSC) directed therapy targets: (1) Cell surface markers expressed on LSC: CD33, CD44, CD123, CD47, etc.; (2) Crucial pathways for maintenance of their stemness: NF-κB, PI3K/AKT/mTOR and bcl-2; and (3) Interactions between LSC in the bone marrow niche: LSC mobilization with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and inhibition of LSC homing to the bone marrow by interrupting the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4-CXCL12 and VCAM-VLA4 axis.