This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kern, S. E. Articles by Shibata, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kern, S. E. Articles by Shibata, D.

The Fuzzy Math of Solid Tumor Stem Cells: A Perspective

¹ The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland and ² The Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at The University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California

Requests for reprints: Scott E. Kern, Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21231. Phone: 410-614-3314; Fax: 443-287-4653; E-mail: sk{at}jhmi.edu.

Abstract

Apparently effective therapeutic agents very often fail to cure cancer patients. It is therefore attractive to wonder whether a specific resistant cell subset should be recognized and separately targeted. In solid tumors, such as carcinomas, a minor population of "cancer stem cells" has been proposed and sought experimentally in human tumors and isolated cell populations. It is often overlooked that the rationale and supportive data are essentially numerical and can be evaluated as such. A reevaluation of the published studies and related claims within awarded U.S. patents suggests that the mathematical support for the concept of therapeutically useful stem cells is weak and may even invalidate the foundations of these publications and patent claims. Mathematical arguments should be used more consistently, because they can serve as a guide for interpreting studies into cancer stem cells of solid tumors. [Cancer Res 2007;67(19):8985–8]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Vermeulen, M. Todaro, F. de Sousa Mello, M. R. Sprick, K. Kemper, M. Perez Alea, D. J. Richel, G. Stassi, and J. P. Medema Single-cell cloning of colon cancer stem cells reveals a multi-lineage differentiation capacity PNAS, September 9, 2008; 105(36): 13427 - 13432. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]