Cancer stem cells pathway

"Cancer stem cells pathway" refers collectively to a set of molecular signaling pathways and regulatory mechanisms controlling the behavior of cancer stem cells (CSCs)—a subpopulation of tumor cells with self-renewal, differentiation, and therapy resistance properties. These pathways include, but are not limited to, Wnt/β-catenin, Notch, Hedgehog, TGF-β/SMAD, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, JAK-STAT, Hippo-YAP/TAZ, and related transcriptional circuits (such as those governed by OCT4, SOX2, Nanog, KLF4, and MYC). Aberrant regulation of these pathways within tumors drives CSC maintenance, tumor relapse, metastasis, drug resistance, and heterogeneity. Because of the functional overlap with normal stem cell biology, targeting these pathways in cancer therapy poses significant safety and selectivity challenges. Drugs and biologics are under investigation to inhibit these pathways and ablate CSCs, but translation to clinical use is ongoing and complex due to toxicity and compensatory mechanisms in tumors

Other names

Cancer stem cell pathwaysCSCs pathwaysstemness pathways in cancerCSC regulatory pathways

Inhibition of self-renewal pathways (e.g., Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch); Induction of CSC differentiation; Blockade of surface markers to target CSCs for immune destruction; Inhibition of drug efflux pumps to overcome chemoresistance