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Updated: May 25, 2026

Patient Derived Cell Culture and Isolation of CD133+ Putative Cancer Stem Cells from Melanoma
Published on: March 13, 2013
Cancer stem cells in melanoma
C Regenbrecht1, Y Welte, R Hugel
1Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany. mail@christian-regenbrecht.de
Abstract:
The identification of cancer stem cells in various malignancies led to the hypothesis that these cells have the exclusive ability of self-renewal, contribute to the plasticity of the tumours and may be the cause for ineffective cancer therapies. Several markers of melanoma stem cells have been described in recent studies including CD133, CD166, Nestin and BMI-1. Further studies are necessary to identify, better define and understand the origin and function of cancer stem cells. If confirmed that cancer stem cells play an important role in malignancy, therapeutic strategies may need to be redirected towards these cells to circumvent the failure of conventional therapies.
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