Brain tumour stem cells: the undercurrents of human brain cancer and their relationship to neural stem cells

Conceptual and technical advances in neural stem cell biology are being applied to the study of human brain tumours. These studies suggest that human brain tumours are organized as a hierarchy and are maintained by a small number of tumour cells that have stem cell properties. Most of the bulk popul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2008-01, Vol.363 (1489), p.139-152
Main Author: Dirks, Peter B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Brain neoplasms
Brain Neoplasms - pathology
Brain Tumour
Cancer
Cancer Stem Cell
Cell Differentiation - physiology
Cell growth
Cellular differentiation
Hierarchy
Humans
Multipotent stem cells
Neoplasia
Neoplastic Stem Cells - pathology
Neural Stem Cell
Neural stem cells
Neuroglia
Neurons - physiology
Progenitor cells
Self-Renewal
Stem cells
Stem Cells - physiology
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Summary:Conceptual and technical advances in neural stem cell biology are being applied to the study of human brain tumours. These studies suggest that human brain tumours are organized as a hierarchy and are maintained by a small number of tumour cells that have stem cell properties. Most of the bulk population of human brain tumours comprise cells that have lost the ability to initiate and maintain tumour growth. Although the cell of origin for human brain tumours is uncertain, recent evidence points towards the brain's known proliferative zones. The identification of brain tumour stem cells has important implications for understanding brain tumour biology and these cells may be critical cellular targets for curative therapy.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2006.2017