Editorial Stem Cells in Translational Cancer Research

Copyright © 2015 Oswaldo Keith Okamoto et al.This is an open access article distributed under theCreativeCommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the originalwork is properly cited. Since the seminal studies by Fialkow et al. in the seventies [1] and by Bonnet and Dick in the nineties [2], where an organized tumor cell hierarchy originating from transformed hematopoietic stem cells was found inmyeloid leukemias, the cancer stem cell (CSC) model of tumor development drew the attention of the scientific community and became the focus of extensive discussion. This theme gained momentum over the past decade, with the identification of stemlike cells as drivers of tumor initiation, recurrence, and metastasis spread in a variety of nonhematopoietic human cancers. These characteristics postulated them as novel and promising therapeutic targets for cancer, especially in the context of drug-resistant tumors [3]