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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics
Published on: May 11, 2016
Niche for normal and cancer stem cells
1Center for Developmental Biology, Chuoku Minatojimaminamimachi 2-3-3, 650-0047 Kobe, Japan. nishikawa@cdb.riken.jp
Abstract:
An important issue in cancer therapy is the presence of a population that is resistant to anticancer treatment. This resistance has been partly ascribed to the presence of quiescent stem cells in a cancer population. However, how the quiescent state is induced in a proliferating cancer population is totally obscure. We think that our study on the stem cell system of pigment cells will provide some insight into the molecular basis for cancer stem cells, because the quiescent melanocyte stem cell would be the ideal model for understanding the process generating quiescent stem cells. In this article, we review our latest understanding of the quiescent stem cells of the melanocyte lineage by referring to some related topics of cancer stem cells.
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