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Characteristics of glioma stem cells

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Abstract

The cancer stem cell theory postulates that tumors are sustained by a select cell population with specific features, such as self-renewal ability and the capacity to give rise to a heterogeneous mass of tumor cells. The existence of such cells has been demonstrated for glioblastoma, with these cells being referred to as glioma stem cells (GSCs). Glioblastomas are notoriously heterogeneous tumors, however, and the isolation and characterization of their stem cells will require further investigations. Furthermore, the lack of unequivocal markers for GSCs and a partial overlap in characteristics with other cells often lead to confusion. Here, we review the characteristics necessary for a glioma cell to be considered a stem cell, and we adopt our murine glioblastoma model based on genetically modified neural stem cells to illustrate and discuss the GSC concept.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gene Regulation, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Oltea Sampetrean & Hideyuki Saya

  2. Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan

    Oltea Sampetrean & Hideyuki Saya

Authors
  1. Oltea Sampetrean
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  2. Hideyuki Saya
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Correspondence to Hideyuki Saya.

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Sampetrean, O., Saya, H. Characteristics of glioma stem cells. Brain Tumor Pathol 30, 209–214 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10014-013-0141-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10014-013-0141-5

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