Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2017; 23(14): 2470-2482
Published online Apr 14, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i14.2470
Figure 1
Figure 1 Cancer stem cells in biliary tract cancer. Biliary tract cancer stem cells are thought to originate from various subpopulations of healthy cells that harbor stem cell or stem cell-like traits. Currently available data on clinical biliary tract cancer (BTC) specimens revealed up-regulation of established cancer stem cells (CSC) cell surface and functional markers as well as aberrant activity of signaling pathways and micro-RNA species. Expression of CSC markers and stemness factors in BTC tissues is associated with diverse unfavorable clinico-pathological features and poor prognosis. See text for details.