Figure 1.

Cancer stem cell biology and perspectives for cancer therapy. (A) Cancer stem cell (CSC) are a subpopulation of tumor cells capable of self-renewing through symmetric cell division and of generating, through asymmetric division, more differentiated proliferating daughter cells (non-CSC) that, through successive cell divisions (symmetric commitment) constitute the bulk of the tumor mass. (B) CSC are intrinsically resistant to chemotherapy and other therapeutic modalities and cause disease recurrence by reconstituting the original tumor cell population at the primary or metastatic sites. (C) Targeting CSC could impair tumor regrowth and decrease the likelihood of tumor progression and disease recurrence.