[Remodeling of cancer stem cells in gastrointestinal cancer]

Gastrointestinal cancer such as gastric cancer and colon caner, occupies the majority of the cause of death due to the malignant tumor. Although some progress about the conquest of cancer is accepted through early diagnosis and the development of the endoscope treatment, the treatment, which directly targets the molecular mechanism of the carcinogenesis, is still poor. It therefore is necessary to analyze a process of carcinogenesis in detail. While the gene abnormality as the cause of cancer has been gradually clarified, the characteristic of the cancer stem cell has recently attracted as novel target for cancer therapy. In this report, I summarize about the present situation of a clarified cancer stem cell study and introduce a new trial to understand carcinogenesis mechanism by rebuilding the process of carcinogenesis until the acquisition of the cancer stem cell mainly on stomach and colon.