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World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2021; 13(7): 934-943
Published online Jul 26, 2021. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i7.934
Alternative models of cancer stem cells: The stemness phenotype model, 10 years later
Vivek Kaushik, Yogesh Kulkarni, Kumar Felix, Neelam Azad, Anand Krishnan V Iyer, Juan Sebastian Yakisich
Vivek Kaushik, Yogesh Kulkarni, Kumar Felix, Neelam Azad, Anand Krishnan V Iyer, Juan Sebastian Yakisich, School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668, United States
Author contributions: Kaushik V and Yakisich JS collected the supportive literature and drafted the manuscript; Yakisich JS conceived the manuscript; Kulkarni Y, Felix K, Azad N and Iyer AKV reviewed the literature, revised and proofread the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by The Hampton University Regional Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center National Institute of Health (NIH), No. HU-180004 (to Iyer AKV, Azad N and Yakisich JS); and NIH-NIGMS, No. GM121287 and No. GM122655 (to Azad N and Kulkarni Y, respectively).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Juan Sebastian Yakisich, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hampton University, Kittrell Hall, 121 William R. Harvey Way, Hampton, VA 23668, United States. juan.yakisich@hamptonu.edu
Received: February 28, 2021
Peer-review started: February 28, 2021
First decision: April 19, 2021
Revised: May 5, 2021
Accepted: July 9, 2021
Article in press: July 9, 2021
Published online: July 26, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: The classical cancer stem cell theory proposed the existence of a rare but constant subpopulation of cancer stem cells. This review article briefly describes the cumulative evidence supporting alternative models of cancer stem cells, their implications in translational oncology and, discuss the potential strategies to develop more effective and less toxic sequential multistep-based therapeutic regimens for cancer treatment.