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Updated: Oct 1, 2025

Obtaining Cancer Stem Cell Spheres from Gynecological and Breast Cancer Tumors
Published on: March 1, 2020
Stem cells, cancer, and cancer stem cells
T Reya1, S J Morrison, M F Clarke
1Departments of Pathology and Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California 94305, USA. irv@stanford.edu
Abstract:
Stem cell biology has come of age. Unequivocal proof that stem cells exist in the haematopoietic system has given way to the prospective isolation of several tissue-specific stem and progenitor cells, the initial delineation of their properties and expressed genetic programmes, and the beginnings of their utility in regenerative medicine. Perhaps the most important and useful property of stem cells is that of self-renewal. Through this property, striking parallels can be found between stem cells and cancer cells: tumours may often originate from the transformation of normal stem cells, similar signalling pathways may regulate self-renewal in stem cells and cancer cells, and cancer cells may include 'cancer stem cells' - rare cells with indefinite potential for self-renewal that drive tumorigenesis.
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