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Updated: Apr 1, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of Tumor-initiating Cells from Sarcoma Patient-derived Xenografts
Published on: June 13, 2019
Immune responses to human cancer stem-like cells/cancer-initiating cells
Yoshihiko Hirohashi1, Toshihiko Torigoe1, Tomohide Tsukahara1
1Department of Pathology, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, South-1 West-17, Chuo-Ku, Sapporo, 060-8556, Japan.
Abstract:
Cancer stem-like cells (CSC)/cancer-initiating cells (CIC) are defined as minor subpopulations of cancer cells that are endowed with properties of higher tumor-initiating ability, self-renewal ability and differentiation ability. Accumulating results of recent studies have revealed that CSC/CIC are resistant to standard cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and molecular targeting therapy, and eradiation of CSC/CIC is, thus, critical to cure cancer. Cancer immunotherapy is expected to become the "fourth" cancer therapy. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) play an essential role in immune responses to cancers, and CTL can recognize CSC/CIC in an antigen-specific manner. CSC/CIC express several tumor-associated antigens (TAA), and cancer testis (CT) antigens are reasonable sources for CSC/CIC-targeting immunotherapy. In this review article, we discuss CSC/CIC recognition by CTL, regulation of immune systems by CSC/CIC, TAA expression in CSC/CIC, and the advantages of CSC/CIC-targeting immunotherapy.
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