Modern Medical Laboratory Journal

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) or cancer-initiating cells were first identified in leukemia using the experimental technique of xenotransplantation in 1977.
CSCs are a subpopulation of cells that has the distinct ability of self-renewal, proliferation, differentiation, and proposed capacity to metastasize to distant locations. This type of cell is believed to play a pivotal role in carcinogenesis. CSCs are known as key drivers of cancer initiation, maintenance, progression, drug resistance, and cancer recurrence or metastasis. 
Many mechanisms including the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways are dysregulated in CSCs and increase the cytoprotective and therapy resistance mechanisms operating in these cells. Delineating the roles of these mechanisms in maintaining the stemness and self-renewal of CSCs will help to understand how CSCs initiate malignancies and develop cancers and may also lead to the development of potential therapeutic interventions to render CSCs more sensitive to cell death triggered by cancer therapies.

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