Figure 1.

Role of cancer stem cell (CSCs) in traditional treatment failure. While chemo- and radiation-therapy can efficiently kill differentiated cells that make the bulk of tumor, they often fail to kill CSCs. Due to their ability to undergo self-renewal and differentiation, the surviving CSCs can cause disease relapse after initial remission. Unlike the conventional therapies, OVs have the potential to kill both differentiated cells as well as CSCs and hence they may cause eradication of the disease.