Cancer initiation and progression: involvement of stem cells and the microenvironment

The molecular events that lead to the cancer-initiating cell involve critical mutations in genes regulating normal cell growth and differentiation. Cancer stem cells, or cancer initiating cells have been described in the context of acute myeloid leukemia, breast, brain, bone, lung, melanoma and prostate. These cells have been shown to be critical in tumor development and should harbor the mutations needed to initiate a tumor. The origin of the cancer stem cells is not clear. They may be derived from stem cell pools, progenitor cells or differentiated cells that undergo trans-differentiation processes. It has been suggested that cell fusion and/or horizontal gene transfer events, which may occur in tissue repair processes, also might play an important role in tumor initiation and progression. Fusion between somatic cells that have undergone a set of specific mutations and normal stem cells might explain the extensive chromosomal derangements seen in early tumors. Centrosome deregulation can be an integrating factor in many of the mechanisms involved in tumor development. The regulation of the balance between cell renewal and cell death is critical in cancer. Increased knowledge of developmental aspects in relation to self-renewal and differentiation, both under normal and deregulated conditions, will probably shed more light on the mechanisms that lead to tumor initiation and progression.