Differential expression of differentation, key stemness and pathways genes and microRNAs and the role of Tgf-β in embryonal carinoma stem cells

Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) identified in multiple malignancies has fuelled the belief that they drive primary tumourigenesis. Their persistence post-intervention contributes to metastasis, recurrence, self-renewal, thus differentiating and regenerating tumours. CSCs occur in brain, breast, prostate and also in head and neck tumours. It is now widely believed that CSC sternness is key in malignancy, as self-renewal and differentiation of both normal stem cells (NSCs) and CSCs of similar potency involves almost identical events, we hypothesise that it is regulation of differentiation, rather than differentiation itself, that is aberrant in CSCs.