Puglisi MA, Tesori V, Lattanzi W, Gasbarrini GB, Gasbarrini A. Colon cancer stem cells: Controversies and perspectives. World J Gastroenterol 2013; 19(20): 2997-3006 [PMID: 23716979 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i20.2997]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Maria Ausiliatrice Puglisi, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Gemelli Hospital, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00197 Rome, Italy. ausiliapuglisi@yahoo.it
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2013; 19(20): 2997-3006 Published online May 28, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i20.2997
Colon cancer stem cells: Controversies and perspectives
Maria Ausiliatrice Puglisi, Valentina Tesori, Wanda Lattanzi, Giovanni Battista Gasbarrini, Antonio Gasbarrini
Maria Ausiliatrice Puglisi, Valentina Tesori, Antonio Gasbarrini, Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Gemelli Hospital, 00168 Rome, Italy
Wanda Lattanzi, Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
Giovanni Battista Gasbarrini, Fondazione Ricerca in Medicina ONLUS, 40123 Bologna, Italy
Author contributions: Puglisi MA and Tesori V contributed equally to this work; Puglisi MA, Tesori V and Gasbarrini A contributed to the article design, writing and revision; Lattanzi W and Gasbarrini GB contributed to the literature research and revision; all authors approved the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Maria Ausiliatrice Puglisi, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Gemelli Hospital, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00197 Rome, Italy. ausiliapuglisi@yahoo.it
Telephone: +39-6-30156018 Fax: +39-6-30157249
Received: January 12, 2013 Revised: March 25, 2013 Accepted: April 3, 2013 Published online: May 28, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: According to the “cancer stem cell” (CSC) theory, tumor growth and spread are driven by a minority of cancer cells which exhibit characteristics similar to normal stem cells. Although CSCs have been implicated in colon carcinogenesis, due to the complexity of their biology and unsolved technical issues, an unequivocally approved identification and isolation strategy is still a matter of debate. Several markers have been used to identify colon CSCs but the function of these proteins in CSC biology has not yet been clarified. Moreover, the possibility that CSCs might contribute to the failure of existing chemotherapies to eradicate malignant tumors, indicate that targeting of CSCs may represent a promising strategy to eradicate chemoresistant cancers. Aim of this review was to acquire more information on the biology of human colon CSCs and shed light on the role of this cells in the onset and the maintenance of colon cancer.
