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Review
. 2023 May 26;15(5):323-341.
doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i5.323.

Tissue-specific cancer stem/progenitor cells: Therapeutic implications

Amani Yehya  1 , Joe Youssef  1 , Sana Hachem  1 , Jana Ismael  1 , Wassim Abou-Kheir  2
Affiliations
Review

Tissue-specific cancer stem/progenitor cells: Therapeutic implications

Amani Yehya et al. World J Stem Cells. .

Abstract

Surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiation are the standard therapeutic modalities for treating cancer. These approaches are intended to target the more mature and rapidly dividing cancer cells. However, they spare the relatively quiescent and intrinsically resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs) subpopulation residing within the tumor tissue. Thus, a temporary eradication is achieved and the tumor bulk tends to revert supported by CSCs' resistant features. Based on their unique expression profile, the identification, isolation, and selective targeting of CSCs hold great promise for challenging treatment failure and reducing the risk of cancer recurrence. Yet, targeting CSCs is limited mainly by the irrelevance of the utilized cancer models. A new era of targeted and personalized anti-cancer therapies has been developed with cancer patient-derived organoids (PDOs) as a tool for establishing pre-clinical tumor models. Herein, we discuss the updated and presently available tissue-specific CSC markers in five highly occurring solid tumors. Additionally, we highlight the advantage and relevance of the three-dimensional PDOs culture model as a platform for modeling cancer, evaluating the efficacy of CSC-based therapeutics, and predicting drug response in cancer patients.

Keywords: Cancer stem cells; Patient-derived organoids; Pre-clinical cancer models; Therapy resistance; Tissue-specific cancer stem cell markers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic presentation of cancer stem cell markers and their contribution to cancer development, progression, and resistance to therapy. Several cancer stem cell (CSC) markers and regulatory signaling pathways are involved in the sustenance and activation of self-renewal, immune evasion, and tumor metastasis, and contribution to tumor re-growth and therapy resistance. CSC markers serve as potential therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. CSCs: Cancer stem cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic presentation of patient-derived organoid applications in cancer research. Patient-derived organoid (PDO) models can be utilized in multiple fields of cancer research including fundamental research, drug development, and clinical application. Cancer PDOs have been used to simulate the tumor tissue in vitro, study the disease mechanisms and gene expression patterns, and expose them to different drugs for efficacy screenings and drug discovery validations. Organoids are further used as in vitro pre-clinical models for personalized medicine and the generation of ‘living’ organoid biobanks. PDO culturing system serves as an advanced tool in the implementation and development of precision medicine.
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