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Controversies in Isolation and Characterization of Cancer Stem Cells

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Cancer Stem Cells: New Horizons in Cancer Therapies

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Abstract

Cancer is an uncontrolled growth of a cell in any part of the body. It has been more than a century for identification of cure for cancer/tumor, and still, we are unable to understand and treat the cancer completely. Current therapeutic techniques such as radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, etc. are failing to eradicate the cancer cells from its root and lead to its relapse in the short or long term. This is because of the small subpopulation of the cells within the tumor that are known as cancer stem cells (CSCs). These cells play an important role in supplying differentiated cells for the growth and development of the tumor. Along with this, they also maintain their population intact for the future requirement of the cells for tumor growth and its metastasis. In spite of several studies proving the presence of CSCs in various types of tumors, there is always a question about its existence and the way we characterize the CSCs based on the histotype-specific markers. There is a dire need for the compilation of research in this area to understand whether the cells, which are being confirmed as CSCs are really CSCs or not? In this chapter, we provide the various isolation and characterization techniques along with the latest CSC identification markers for different types of cancer, in addition we highlight the arguments and the limitations regarding the isolation and characterization of CSCs in this chapter.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the SRM Institute of Science and Technology for the infrastructure and fellowship to Ravi Gor. We would also like to thank the funding support provided to us from Science and Engineering Research Board (EMR/2017/002874), and the Department of Biotechnology, (BT/PR26189/GET/119/226/2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetic Engineering, School of Bio-Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

    Ravi Gor & Satish Ramalingam

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  1. Ravi Gor
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  2. Satish Ramalingam
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  1. Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Surajit Pathak

  2. Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Antara Banerjee

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Gor, R., Ramalingam, S. (2020). Controversies in Isolation and Characterization of Cancer Stem Cells. In: Pathak, S., Banerjee, A. (eds) Cancer Stem Cells: New Horizons in Cancer Therapies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5120-8_15

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