Affiliations: ITB-CNR, Segrate Milan, Italy | Max Planck Institute, Münster, Germany | Azienda Ospedaliera Desenzano d/G, Manerbio (BS) Italy | IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, Laboratorio di
Genetica Medica, San Giovanni Rotondo, (FG) Italy | University of Münster Medical Center, Gynecology and
Obstetrics, Münster, Germany
Abstract: Recent findings suggest the possibility that tumors originate from
cancer cells with stem cell properties. The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis
provides an explanation for why existing cancer therapies often fail in
eradicating highly malignant tumors and end with tumor recurrence. Although
normal stem cells and CSCs both share the capacity for self-renewal and
multi-lineage differentiation, suggesting that CSC may be derived from normal
SCs, the cellular origin of transformation of CSCs is debatable. Research
suggests that the tightly controlled balance of self-renewal and
differentiation that characterizes normal stem cell function is dis-regulated
in cancer. Additionally, recent evidence has linked an embryonic stem cell
(ESC)-like gene signature with poorly differentiated high-grade tumors,
suggesting that regulatory pathways controlling pluripotency may in part
contribute to the somatic CSC phenotype. Here, we introduce expression profile
bioinformatic analyses of mouse breast cells with CSC properties, mouse
embryonic stem (mES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells with an emphasis
on how study of pluripotent stem cells may contribute to the identification of
genes and pathways that facilitate events associated with oncogenesis. Global
gene expression analysis from CSCs and induced pluripotent stem cell lines
represent an ideal model to study cancer initiation and progression and provide
insight into the origin cancer stem cells. Additionally, insight into the
genetic and epigenomic mechanisms regulating the balance between self-renewal
and differentiation of somatic stem cells and cancer may help to determine
whether different strategies used to generate iPSCs are potentially safe for therapeutic use.
