Soft Tissue Sarcoma Cancer Stem Cells: An Overview.
Abstract
Soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are an uncommon group of solid tumors that can arise throughout
the human lifespan. Despite their commonality as non-bony cancers that develop from
mesenchymal cell precursors, they are heterogeneous in their genetic profiles, histology,
and clinical features. This has made it difficult to identify a single target or therapy
specific to STSs. And while there is no one cell of origin ascribed to all STSs, the
cancer stem cell (CSC) principle-that a subpopulation of tumor cells possesses stem
cell-like properties underlying tumor initiation, therapeutic resistance, disease
recurrence, and metastasis-predicts that ultimately it should be possible to identify
a feature common to all STSs that could function as a therapeutic Achilles' heel.
Here we review the published evidence for CSCs in each of the most common STSs, then
focus on the methods used to study CSCs, the developmental signaling pathways usurped
by CSCs, and the epigenetic alterations critical for CSC identity that may be useful
for further study of STS biology. We conclude with discussion of some challenges to
the field and future directions.
Type
Journal articleSubject
cancer stem cellsdevelopmental pathways
epigenetic plasticity
sarcoma
soft tissue sarcoma
stemness
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17677Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.3389/fonc.2018.00475Publication Info
Genadry, Katia C; Pietrobono, Silvia; Rota, Rossella; & Linardic, Corinne M (2018). Soft Tissue Sarcoma Cancer Stem Cells: An Overview. Frontiers in Oncology, 8. pp. 475. 10.3389/fonc.2018.00475. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17677.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Corinne Mary Linardic
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Pediatric Sarcomas: Sarcomas are among the most difficult-to-treat cancers in pediatric
oncology, with metastatic forms having the highest mortality. We have established
genetically defined human cell-based models and genetically engineered murine models
for the pediatric skeletal muscle cancer known as rhabdomyosarcoma. Using these models,
we can study the causative role of certain genetic changes (e.g. chromosomal translocations
and oncogenic RAS) in rhabdomyosarcoma formation

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