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Breast Cancer Research
Published in: Breast Cancer Research 5/2008

01-10-2008 | Editorial

Breast cancer stem cell markers – the rocky road to clinical applications

Author: Gabriela Dontu

Published in: Breast Cancer Research | Issue 5/2008

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Abstract

Lately, understanding the role of cancer stem cells in tumor initiation and progression became a major focus in stem cell biology and in cancer research. Considerable efforts, such as the recent studies by Honeth and colleagues, published in the June issue of Breast Cancer Research, are directed towards developing clinical applications of the cancer stem cell concepts. This work shows that the previously described CD44+CD24- stem cell phenotype is associated with basal-type breast cancers in human patients, in particular BRCA1 inherited cancers, but does not correlate with clinical outcome. These very interesting findings caution that the success of our efforts in translating cancer stem cell research into clinical practice depends on how thorough and rigorous we are at characterizing these cells.
Literature
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Honeth G, Bendahl PO, Ringnér M, Saal LH, Gruvberger-Saal SK, Lövgren K, Grabau D, Fernö M, Borg A, Hegardt C: The CD44+/CD24- phenotype is enriched in basal-like breast tumors. Breast Cancer Res. 2008, 10: R53-10.1186/bcr2108.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
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Ginestier C, Hur MH, Charafe-Jauffret E, Monville F, Dutcher J, Brown M, Jacquemier J, Viens P, Kleer CG, Liu S, Schott A, Hayes D, Birnbaum D, Wicha MS, Dontu G: ALDH1 is a marker of normal and malignant human mammary stem cells and a predictor of poor clinical outcome. Cell Stem Cell. 2007, 1: 555-567. 10.1016/j.stem.2007.08.014.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
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Liu S, Ginestier C, Charafe-Jauffret E, Foco H, Kleer CG, Merajver SD, Dontu G, Wicha MS: BRCA1 regulates human mammary stem/progenitor cell fate. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008, 105: 1680-1685. 10.1073/pnas.0711613105.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
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Abraham BK, Fritz P, McClellan M, Hauptvogel P, Athelogou M, Brauch H: Prevalence of CD44+/CD24-/low cells in breast cancer may not be associated with clinical outcome but may favor distant metastasis. Clin Cancer Res. 2005, 11: 1154-1159.PubMed
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Metadata
Title
Breast cancer stem cell markers – the rocky road to clinical applications
Author
Gabriela Dontu
Publication date
01-10-2008
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Breast Cancer Research / Issue 5/2008
Electronic ISSN: 1465-542X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr2130

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