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Gastric Cancer Stem Cells

Shigeo Takaishi, Tomoyuki Okumura, Timothy C. Wang

From the Division of Digestive and Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY

Corresponding author: Timothy C. Wang, MD, Division of Digestive and Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, 630 West 168th St, New York, NY, 10032; e-mail: tcw21{at}columbia.edu

Cancer stem cells are defined as the unique subpopulation in the tumors that possess the ability to initiate tumor growth and sustain self-renewal as well as metastatic potential. Accumulating evidence in recent years strongly indicate the existence of cancer stem cells in solid tumors of a wide variety of organs. In this review, we will discuss the possible existence of a gastric cancer stem cell. Our recent data suggest that a subpopulation with a defined marker shows spheroid colony formation in serum-free media in vitro, as well as tumorigenic ability in immunodeficient mice in vivo. We will also discuss the possible origins of the gastric cancer stem cell from an organ-specific stem cell versus a recently recognized new candidate bone marrow–derived cell (BMDC). We have previously shown that BMDC contributed to malignant epithelial cells in the mouse model of Helicobacter-associated gastric cancer. On the basis of these findings from animal model, we propose that a similar phenomenon may also occur in human cancer biology, particularly in the cancer origin of other inflammation-associated cancers. The expanding research field of cancer stem-cell biology may offer a novel clinical apparatus to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Supported by National Institutes of Health Grants No. R01 CA120979 and R01 CA093405 (T.C.W) and in part by the Uehara Memorial Foundation (T.O.).

Authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.