Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Dec 26, 2020; 12(12): 1439-1454
Published online Dec 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i12.1439
Brain tumors: Cancer stem-like cells interact with tumor microenvironment
Hai-Long Liu, Ya-Nan Wang, Shi-Yu Feng
Hai-Long Liu, Shi-Yu Feng, Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Ya-Nan Wang, Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding 071000, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: Liu HL and Wang YN contributed equally to the review; Liu HL and Feng SY contributed to the whole conception and design; Liu HL and Wang YN were responsible for the details of the review structure and interpretation; Liu HL, Wang YN, and Feng SY completed the manuscript and figures; Feng SY was responsible for the review supervision; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by The Medical Big Data Research Program of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 2018MBD-20 (to Feng SY); National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81902975 (to Liu HL); and the 65th China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, No. 2019M653940 (to Liu HL).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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: Shi-Yu Feng, MD, PhD, Doctor, Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. fengshiyu72123@163.com
Received: March 29, 2020
Peer-review started: March 30, 2020
First decision: September 21, 2020
Revised: October 7, 2020
Accepted: October 27, 2020
Article in press: October 27, 2020
Published online: December 26, 2020
Processing time: 272 Days and 19.5 Hours
Abstract

Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) with potential of self-renewal drive tumorigenesis. Brain tumor microenvironment (TME) has been identified as a critical regulator of malignancy progression. Many researchers are searching new ways to characterize tumors with the goal of predicting how they respond to treatment. Here, we describe the striking parallels between normal stem cells and CSCs. We review the microenvironmental aspects of brain tumors, in particular composition and vital roles of immune cells infiltrating glioma and medulloblastoma. By highlighting that CSCs cooperate with TME via various cellular communication approaches, we discuss the recent advances in therapeutic strategies targeting the components of TME. Identification of the complex and interconnected factors can facilitate the development of promising treatments for these deadly malignancies.

Keywords: Cancer stem-like cells; Microenvironment; Brain tumor; Inflammation; Clinical application; Glioma

Core Tip: To better understand the effects of interplaying between cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) and tumor microenvironment (TME) on brain tumor progression, we review the distinct characters of CSCs and the mechanisms regarding how TME regulates CSC self-renewal. Moreover, we emphasize the valuable application of sing-cell RNA sequencing technology in the cancer research.