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Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance

Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance

Early diagnosis and treatment can often cure cancer. However, even with treatment, residual cells called cancer stem cells (CSC) might remain, often causing tumor recurrence. These cancer stem cells possess the potential for self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation and are often responsible for the therapeutic resistance displayed in most cancers.
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...

Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance

Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance

Early diagnosis and treatment can often cure cancer. However, even with treatment, residual cells called cancer stem cells (CSC) might remain, often causing tumor recurrence. These cancer stem cells possess the potential for self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation and are often responsible for the therapeutic resistance displayed in most cancers.
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...

Distinctive Features of Adult Stem Cells vs Cancer Stem Cells

Distinctive Features of Adult Stem Cells vs Cancer Stem Cells

A stem cell is an unspecialized cell that can divide without limit as needed and can, under specific conditions, differentiate into specialized cells.
Adult stem cells
Adult stem cells are tissue-specific; hence, they divide to develop the tissue from which they originate. One type of adult stem cell is the epithelial stem cell, which gives rise to the keratinocytes in the multiple layers of epithelial cells in the epidermis of the skin. Adult bone marrow has three distinct types of stem cells:...

Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells

Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells

Cancer cells accumulate genetic changes at an abnormally rapid rate due to the defects in the DNA repair mechanisms. From an evolutionary perspective, such genetic instability is advantageous for cancer development. Mutant cell lines accumulate a series of beneficial mutations that contribute to their progression into cancer.
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...

Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells

Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells

Cancer cells accumulate genetic changes at an abnormally rapid rate due to the defects in the DNA repair mechanisms. From an evolutionary perspective, such genetic instability is advantageous for cancer development. Mutant cell lines accumulate a series of beneficial mutations that contribute to their progression into cancer.
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...

Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell

Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell

Cancer arises from mutations in the critical genes that allow healthy cells to escape cell cycle regulation and acquire the ability to proliferate indefinitely. Though originating from a single mutation event in one of the originator cells, cancer progresses when the mutant cell lines continue to gain more and more mutations, and finally, become malignant. For example, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) develops initially as a non-lethal increase in white blood cells, which progressively...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics

Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics

Published on: May 11, 2016

Cancer stem cells: back to Darwin?

¹Section of Haemato-Oncology, The Institute of Cancer Research, Brookes Lawley Building, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5NG, United Kingdom. mel.greaves@icr.ac.uk <mel.greaves@icr.ac.uk>

Seminars in Cancer Biology

|April 3, 2010

Summary

Cancer stem cells drive evolution and genetic diversity, influencing tumor progression. This "back to Darwin" model highlights self-renewal and genetic variation in cancer, impacting targeted therapies.

Area of Science:

Oncology
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics

Background:

Current cancer models often overlook evolutionary dynamics and genetic drivers.
Single-cell studies reveal complex, branching clonal architectures in cancers like acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Intra-clonal genetic heterogeneity suggests divergent clonal evolution is common in cancer.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of cancer stem cells in tumor propagation and evolution.
To explore the genetic basis of clonal architecture in cancer.
To propose a new model for cancer propagation based on evolutionary principles.

Main Methods:

Analysis of single-cell genetic data from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Assessing leukaemic regeneration in NOD/SCID/gamma mice using genetically diverse stem cells.

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Last Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics

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Published on: May 11, 2016

Establishment of Cancer Stem Cell Cultures from Human Conventional Osteosarcoma

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Comparative analysis of clonal architecture and stem cell genetic diversity.

Main Results:

Identified complex, non-linear, branching clonal architectures with distinct genetic signatures in sub-clones.
Observed that genetically diverse stem cells reflect the overall clonal architecture.
Demonstrated that cancer stem cells provide genetically diverse units for evolutionary selection.

Conclusions:

A 'back to Darwin' model for cancer propagation is proposed, emphasizing stem cells as units of evolutionary selection.
Cancer stem cell heterogeneity drives clonal architecture and tumor progression.
This evolutionary perspective has significant implications for developing targeted cancer therapies.