Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Tumor Stem Cells

Tumor stem cells, also called cancer stem cells, are a subpopulation of cells within a tumor that possess the capacity for self-renewal and for generating the diverse cell types that compose the tumor mass. They are widely proposed to drive tumor initiation, growth, metastasis, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 11 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 41× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2574-4372 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Tumor stem cells, also called cancer stem cells, are a subpopulation of cells within a tumor that possess the capacity for self-renewal and for generating the diverse cell types that compose the tumor mass. They are widely proposed to drive tumor initiation, growth, metastasis, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence, because their relative quiescence and drug-efflux and repair capabilities can allow them to survive treatments that eliminate the bulk of proliferating tumor cells. Their identity is defined by functional assays of self-renewal and tumorigenicity and by characteristic marker and signaling profiles that overlap with those of normal stem cells. Whether such cells arise from transformed tissue stem cells or from more differentiated cells that reacquire stem-like properties, and how field cancerization contributes, remain active questions. Understanding the pathways that establish and maintain tumor stem cells offers targets for therapies aimed at eradicating the cells responsible for relapse. Research relevant to this topic includes the evaluation of circadian oscillators in cancer stem cells, the relationship between cancer stem cells and field cancerization, microRNA regulation of the pluripotency factor OCT4, the behavior of neural and hypothalamic stem cells, in vitro disease and safety-testing models, and the broader study of stem-cell self-renewal, differentiation, and regenerative-medicine applications.

Research published in this journal

11 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 11 articles above have been cited 41 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Tumor Stem Cells, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Evolving Stem Cell Research (ISSN 2574-4372).

Journal editorial board
Takafumi Yokota · Japan Chiara Raggi · Italy Morikuni Tobita · Japan

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.