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©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2014; 6(1): 53-64
Published online Jan 26, 2014. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v6.i1.53
Published online Jan 26, 2014. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v6.i1.53
An overview of the role of cancer stem cells in spine tumors with a special focus on chordoma
Mojdeh Safari, Department of Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran 14174, Iran
Alireza Khoshnevisan, Department of Neurosurgery, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14174, Iran
Author contributions: Safari M and Khoshnevisan A contributed equally to this work; both authors wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Alireza Khoshnevisan, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Valie-Asr Str., Tehran 14174, Iran. akhoshnevisan@tums.ac.ir
Telephone: +98-912-1007205 Fax: +98-21-66404377
Received: July 8, 2013
Revised: October 9, 2013
Accepted: November 2, 2013
Published online: January 26, 2014
Revised: October 9, 2013
Accepted: November 2, 2013
Published online: January 26, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: Primary malignant tumors of the spine are relatively rare, less than 5% of all spinal column tumors. However, these lesions are often among the most difficult to treat and encompass challenging pathologies such as chordoma and a variety of invasive sarcomas. The mechanisms of tumor recurrence after surgical intervention, as well as resistance to radiation and chemotherapy, remain a pervasive and costly problem. Recent evidence has emerged supporting the hypothesis that solid tumors contain a sub-population of cancer cells that possess characteristics normally associated with stem cells. These cancer stem cells could be targets for future therapeutics.