Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and fatal type of primary brain tumor. Gliosarcoma (GSM) is a rarer and more aggressive variant of GBM that has recently been considered a potentially different disease. Current clinical treatment for both GBM and GSM includes maximal surgical resection followed...

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Main Authors:	Seymour, Tracy, Nowak, Anna, Kakulas, Foteini
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4507454/

id	pubmed-4507454
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-45074542015-08-07 Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma Seymour, Tracy Nowak, Anna Kakulas, Foteini Oncology Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and fatal type of primary brain tumor. Gliosarcoma (GSM) is a rarer and more aggressive variant of GBM that has recently been considered a potentially different disease. Current clinical treatment for both GBM and GSM includes maximal surgical resection followed by post-operative radiotherapy and concomitant and adjuvant chemotherapy. Despite recent advances in treating other solid tumors, treatment for GBM and GSM still remains palliative, with a very poor prognosis and a median survival rate of 12–15 months. Treatment failure is a result of a number of causes, including resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Recent research has applied the cancer stem cells theory of carcinogenesis to these tumors, suggesting the existence of a small subpopulation of glioma stem-like cells (GSCs) within these tumors. GSCs are thought to contribute to tumor progression, treatment resistance, and tumor recapitulation post-treatment and have become the focus of novel therapy strategies. Their isolation and investigation suggest that GSCs share critical signaling pathways with normal embryonic and somatic stem cells, but with distinct alterations. Research must focus on identifying these variations as they may present novel therapeutic targets. Targeting pluripotency transcription factors, SOX2, OCT4, and Nanog homeobox, demonstrates promising therapeutic potential that if applied in isolation or together with current treatments may improve overall survival, reduce tumor relapse, and achieve a cure for these patients. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC4507454/ /pubmed/26258069 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2015.00159 Text en Copyright © 2015 Seymour, Nowak and Kakulas. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Seymour, Tracy Nowak, Anna Kakulas, Foteini
spellingShingle	Seymour, Tracy Nowak, Anna Kakulas, Foteini Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma
author_facet	Seymour, Tracy Nowak, Anna Kakulas, Foteini
author_sort	Seymour, Tracy
title	Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma
title_short	Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma
title_full	Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma
title_fullStr	Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma
title_full_unstemmed	Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma
title_sort	targeting aggressive cancer stem cells in glioblastoma
description	Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and fatal type of primary brain tumor. Gliosarcoma (GSM) is a rarer and more aggressive variant of GBM that has recently been considered a potentially different disease. Current clinical treatment for both GBM and GSM includes maximal surgical resection followed by post-operative radiotherapy and concomitant and adjuvant chemotherapy. Despite recent advances in treating other solid tumors, treatment for GBM and GSM still remains palliative, with a very poor prognosis and a median survival rate of 12–15 months. Treatment failure is a result of a number of causes, including resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Recent research has applied the cancer stem cells theory of carcinogenesis to these tumors, suggesting the existence of a small subpopulation of glioma stem-like cells (GSCs) within these tumors. GSCs are thought to contribute to tumor progression, treatment resistance, and tumor recapitulation post-treatment and have become the focus of novel therapy strategies. Their isolation and investigation suggest that GSCs share critical signaling pathways with normal embryonic and somatic stem cells, but with distinct alterations. Research must focus on identifying these variations as they may present novel therapeutic targets. Targeting pluripotency transcription factors, SOX2, OCT4, and Nanog homeobox, demonstrates promising therapeutic potential that if applied in isolation or together with current treatments may improve overall survival, reduce tumor relapse, and achieve a cure for these patients.
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4507454/
_version_	1613249455625076736

Targeting Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells in Glioblastoma

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