HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE

This Article Free via Open Access: OA OA Full Text Full Text (PDF) OA All Versions of this Article: 2007-0647v1 26/1/292    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints/Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rajasekhar, V. K. Articles by Najbauer, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rajasekhar, V. K. Articles by Najbauer, J.

meeting-report

The 5th International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting, June 2007

^aMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA;
^bStanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA;
^cInstitute for Regeneration Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA;
^dMcGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;
^eCity of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, California, USA

Key Words. Aberrant differentiation • Adult stem cells • Cancer stem cells • Epigenetic alterations • Glioblastoma Hematopoietic stem cells • Metastasis • Polycomb group proteins • Self-renewal • Stem cell maintenance Stem cell niche • Tumor microenvironment • Tumor stroma

Correspondence: Vinagolu K. Rajasekhar, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, Rockefeller Research Laboratories, New York, New York 10021, USA. Telephone: 646-247-0060; Fax: 212-717-3627; e-mail: vinagolr{at}mskcc.org

Received August 14, 2007; accepted for publication October 15, 2007.
First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS   October 25, 2007.



This report presents highlights of discussions that focused on the biology of cancer stem cells as conducted at the fifth Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, held in Cairns, Australia, June 17–20, 2007. The function of adult stem cells is believed to depend on their niches, that is, the microenvironment in which these stem cells reside. A similar concept applies to understanding the development of cancer, as it is becoming increasingly clear that only a small subset of cancer cell populations is capable of initiating/sustaining tumor formation. These tumorigenic cells, commonly referred to as cancer stem cells, also appear to reside in particular niches, and they bear the known, albeit dysfunctional, stem cell characteristics of self-renewal and differentiation. Dysregulation of stem cell niches is thought to contribute to tumorigenesis by affecting the complex network of signaling interactions that occur between stem cells and their neighboring cells, thus imbalancing the physiological controls on self-renewal and differentiation processes. This hypothesis was widely explored at the conference to shed new light on the mechanisms of tumor origin and progression and to unveil novel antitumor therapeutic approaches.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.