Liver Cancer Stem Cells

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that many tumour are containing small population of stem cell-like cells, in other words, cancer stem cells. The rapid development of the cancer stem cell field has allowed the scientists and the clinicians to focus on another challenge, which targets cancer stem cells for new therapeutic strategies. Studies showed that novel therapeutic approaches on the selective targeting of cancer stem cells might be extremely successful for prevention of invasion, metastasis, and the relapses of tumors. Liver cancer is the 5 th most common cancer type. It has also been reported as the 3 rd most common cause of cancer related death. Recently, progression of hepatocellular carcinoma is thought to be driven by cancer stem cells. There are tremendous efforts to clarify the features of liver cancer stem cells, to identify them within other tumor cells, and finally to develop the new therapeutic models that target those cells. This review summarizes the features of liver cancer stem cells, and its importance for therapeutic approaches.