Short-term repopulating cells with myeloid potential in human mobilized peripheral blood do not have a side population (SP) phenotype

Successful Bosutinib Experience in an Elderly Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patient with Suspected Central Nervous System Involvement Transformed from Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Managing the blast phase in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is challenging because limited data are available for elderly patients. The involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) increases the risk of a poor prognosis. Here, we present an elderly blast phase CML patient with suspected CNS involvement who was successfully treated with bosutinib.

The tumor stem cell concept-implications for endocrine tumors?

The cancer stem cell hypothesis has recently evolved from an increasing body of evidence suggesting that in some cancers a small population of tumor cells with stem cell-like properties represents a critical component that dictates the malignant behavior of a given tumor. These observations challenge classical cancer biology and its theory, that tumor growth is mainly based on genomic alterations followed by modulation of cell cycle pathways, which finally result in uncontrolled clonal proliferation. Over the last few years, much progress in the field of tumor stem cells has been achieved in non-endocrine malignancies. In this review, we summarize the existing evidence regarding the tumor stem cell concept for tumor pathophysiology in general and highlight current models that have the potential to further impact research on endocrine tumors.

SP analysis may be used to identify cancer stem cell populations

Side populations (SP), as defined by Hoechst exclusion in flow cytometry, have been described a few years ago. While they represent only a small fraction of the whole cell population, their properties confer an important place in several investigations. SP cells express high levels of various members of ABC transporters family, such as MDR1 and BCRP, which are responsible for drug resistance. Targeting SP could improve cancer therapy by blocking these transporters. In addition, SP appear to be enriched in stem cells, cells that play a pivotal role in normal development and cancer biology. Thus, they could provide a useful tool and a readily accessible source for stem cell studies in both the normal and cancerous settings. However, these cells are poorly defined and pose challenges in their identification and isolation, particularly since they are few in number. Thus, better characterization of SP will advance our understanding of stem cells and will provide us an accessible target for drug resistance in cancer therapy.