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Volume 8 Journal of Stem Cell Research & Therapy
ISSN: 2157-7633 Stem Cell Congress 2018
October 08-09, 2018
October 08-09, 2018 | Zurich, Switzerland
10 th Annual Conference on
Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine
Beyond immortality: Understanding cancer stem cells
Pooja Vinayak Shahapurkar and Ganapathi Bhat Mugulthimoole
Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, India
The cancer stem cells (CSC) are tumorigenic cells which phenotypically and functionally resemble stem cells and which
are responsible for failures in conventional therapies and relapses. Consequently, genesis of cancer depends on the type
of progenitor stem cells affected in stem cell hierarchy and the varying degree of stemness. The ability of CSC to possess
the intrinsic stem like property enables them to produce more CSCs, ultimately bearing a tumorigenesis. They possess
numerous biological properties covering hypoxia, unstable phenotype, multipotency and vigorous self-renewal leading to
leukemogenesis. They express unique surface markers based on the type of cancer and are endowed with tumorigenic capacity
sustaining growth. The epigenetic or genetic alteration giving rise to falsifications in normal cell signaling pathways such as
Wnt/β-catenin, Notch, Hedgehog, etc. may also result in cancer cells behaving like stem cells. Promising therapeutic strategies
hostile to CSCs involve steering the self-renewal pathways of CSCs, disrupting the communication between CSCs and their
microenvironment. Stem cell niche becomes vulnerable to a plethora of carcinogenic mutations, injuries or insult. Importantly,
the oncogenic transformation of these cells is highly potent. The classical example of CSC is blast crisis in chronic myeloid
leukemia, where with the current available treatment, only the burden of blast cells can be kept in control till the chemotherapy
works. However, there is no treatment to attack the blast producing CSCs, owing to their extremely malignant potential and
drug-resistant properties. CSCs signify and strengthen objectives of the essence for evolving innovative anticancer drugs and
therapeutic stratagems.
Biography
Pooja Vinayak Shahapurkar is working as Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Medical Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant at Jaslok Hospital and
Research Centre Mumbai, India. She is a Post-graduate from Cranfield University, UK and has gained basic laboratory work experience in Biochemistry,
Immunology, Haematology and Microbiology lab. She is conversant with concepts of hematopoietic stem cell mobilisation, harvest, storage and transplant. She has
to her credit few scientific write-ups published for international conferences along with chapters and is familiar with essentials of scientific publications and presently
part of s research project entitled, “Isolation of T regulatory cells in heterogeneous population”.
Pooja Vinayak Shahapurkar et al., J Stem Cell Res Ther 2018, Volume 8
DOI: 10.4172/2157-7633-C4-041