Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Oct 26, 2015; 7(9): 1185-1201
Published online Oct 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i9.1185
Therapies targeting cancer stem cells: Current trends and future challenges
Denisa L Dragu, Laura G Necula, Coralia Bleotu, Carmen C Diaconu, Mihaela Chivu-Economescu
Denisa L Dragu, Laura G Necula, Coralia Bleotu, Carmen C Diaconu, Mihaela Chivu-Economescu, Cellular and Molecular Department, Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
Laura G Necula, Nicolae Cajal Institute, Titu Maiorescu University, 004051 Bucharest, Romania
Laura G Necula, Biochemistry-Proteomics Department, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology, 050096 Bucharest, Romania
Author contributions: Dragu DL wrote the sections on targeting microenvironment, manipulation of miRNA expression, induction of CSCs apoptosis and induction of CSCs differentiation; Necula LG wrote the section on targeting signal cascades; Bleotu C wrote the section on targeting surface markers; Diaconu CC wrote the section on targeting ABC transporters; Chivu-Economescu M wrote the introduction, the CSCs: definition, characteristics, markers section, conclusions and completed the integration of all sections in the final manuscript.
Supported by The European Social Fund; and the Romanian Government (Laura G Necula), No. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/137390.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mihaela Chivu-Economescu, PhD, Cellular and Molecular Department, Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285 Ave, 030304 Bucharest, Romania. mihaela.chivu@gmail.com
Telephone: +40-21-3242590 Fax: +40-21-3242590
Received: May 26, 2015
Peer-review started: May 28, 2015
First decision: July 3, 2015
Revised: August 2, 2015
Accepted: September 7, 2015
Article in press: September 8, 2015
Published online: October 26, 2015
Processing time: 156 Days and 17.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play important roles in tumor formation, metastasis and cancer relapse. In this article, we review the literature on the recent progress in developing anti-cancer stem cell strategies based on improved understanding of CSCs properties and molecular features. These novel therapeutic systems are designed with the aim of eradicating CSCs, by targeting surface specific markers and altering signaling pathways or mechanisms involved in CSCs maintenance and drug resistance, and also to disturb microenvironmental signals that sustain CSCs growth, with specific aim of impede CSCs regeneration and cancer relapse.