Xuan SH, Hua ML, Xiang Z, He XL, Huang L, Jiang C, Dong P, Wu J. Roles of cancer stem cells in gastrointestinal cancers. World J Stem Cells 2023; 15(4): 209-220 [PMID: 37181004 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i4.209]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jian Wu, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, No. 242 Guangji Road, Suzhou 215008, Jiangsu Province, China. wujianglinxing@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
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 Stem Cells. Apr 26, 2023; 15(4): 209-220 Published online Apr 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i4.209
Roles of cancer stem cells in gastrointestinal cancers
Shi-Hai Xuan, Meng-Lu Hua, Ze Xiang, Xiang-Lin He, Lan Huang, Chun Jiang, Peng Dong, Jian Wu
Shi-Hai Xuan, Department of Laboratory Medicine, The People’s Hospital of Dongtai City, Dongtai 224299, Jiangsu Province, China
Meng-Lu Hua, Ze Xiang, Xiang-Lin He, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310009, Zhejiang Province, China
Lan Huang, Chun Jiang, Jian Wu, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou 215008, Jiangsu Province, China
Peng Dong, Hangzhou Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Wu J and Dong P designed study and revised the manuscript. Xuan SH, Hua ML and Xiang Z analyzed data and performed manuscript drafting; He XL, Huang L and Jiang C searched the literature and collected data; Dong P and Wu J reviewed the results and made critical comments on the manuscript; all authors reviewed and approved the final version; Xuan SH and Hua ML contributed equally to this work; Wu J and Dong P contributed equally to this work.
Supported bythe Youth Medical Talent of Jiangsu Province, No. QNRC2016475.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with this manuscript.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jian Wu, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, No. 242 Guangji Road, Suzhou 215008, Jiangsu Province, China. wujianglinxing@163.com
Received: January 2, 2023 Peer-review started: January 2, 2023 First decision: February 7, 2023 Revised: February 25, 2023 Accepted: March 27, 2023 Article in press: March 27, 2023 Published online: April 26, 2023 Processing time: 114 Days and 0.5 Hours
Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the main cause of tumor growth, invasion, metastasis and recurrence. Recently, CSCs have been extensively studied to identify CSC-specific surface markers as well as signaling pathways that play key roles in CSCs self-renewal. The involvement of CSCs in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers also highlights these cells as a priority target for therapy. The diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of GI cancer have always been a focus of attention. Therefore, the potential application of CSCs in GI cancers is receiving increasing attention. This review summarizes the role of CSCs in GI cancers, focusing on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. In addition, we propose CSCs as potential targets and therapeutic strategies for the effective treatment of GI cancers, which may provide better guidance for clinical treatment of GI cancers.
Core Tip: This review summarizes the role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, focusing on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. In addition, we propose CSCs as potential targets and therapeutic strategies for the effective treatment of GI cancers, which may provide better guidance for clinical treatment of GI cancers.
