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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Cells

Cancer Stem Cells as Central Nodes in Therapeutic Strategies

  • Saima Usman1
  • William Andrew Yeudall2,3
  • Ahmad Jamal4
  • Muy-Teck Teh5
  • Ahmad Waseem5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Oral Pathology, National University of Medical Sciences NUMS, Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan
  2. 2Department of Oral Biology, The Dental College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
  3. 3Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
  4. 4Clinical Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
  5. 5Centre for Oral Immunobiology and Regenerative Medicine, Institute of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Turner Street, London E1 2AD, UK
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Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small population of cancer cells that endow unique traits of self-renewal, differentiation, tumorigenicity, quiescence and therapeutic resistance, ultimately leading to cancer relapse and poor prognosis. Conventional chemo- and radiotherapies effectively destroy rapidly dividing cancer cells; however, CSCs are largely refractory to these treatments due to special characteristics that include metabolic plasticity, low reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, apoptosis inhibition and modified DNA repair systems, effectively hijacking the tumour microenvironment and evading host immune surveillance. This review summarises the potential CSC diagnostic methods that can be used in routine clinical investigation for tailoring personalised treatment plans both pre- and post-surgery. In this way, a CSC gene signature, reactivity and load can be estimated and, by using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in a personalised therapeutic regimen, the most effective treatment response can be predicted. Furthermore, we propose incorporation of CSC-targeted therapies in conjugation with conventional chemo- and radiotherapies to eradicate CSCs, thereby eliminating the risk of relapse and therapy failure in cancer patients. This review also describes multiple potential molecular targets that may be used to target CSCs and emphasises the need for further evaluation, in order that they may be applied clinically.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{usman2026cancer,
  title = {{Cancer Stem Cells as Central Nodes in Therapeutic Strategies}},
  author = {Saima Usman and William Andrew Yeudall and Ahmad Jamal and Muy-Teck Teh and Ahmad Waseem},
  journal = {Cells},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3390/cells15211978},
  url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/15/21/1978},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Cancer Stem Cells as Central Nodes in Therapeutic Strategies
AU  - Saima Usman
AU  - William Andrew Yeudall
AU  - Ahmad Jamal
AU  - Muy-Teck Teh
AU  - Ahmad Waseem
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/30
JO  - Cells
DO  - 10.3390/cells15211978
UR  - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/15/21/1978
AB  - Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small population of cancer cells that endow unique traits of self-renewal, differentiation, tumorigenicity, quiescence and therapeutic resistance, ultimately leading to cancer relapse and poor prognosis. Conventional chemo- and radiotherapies effectively destroy rapidly dividing cancer cells; however, CSCs are largely refractory to these treatments due to special characteristics that include metabolic plasticity, low reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, apoptosis inhibition and modified DNA repair systems, effectively hijacking the tumour microenvironment and evading host immune surveillance. This review summarises the potential CSC diagnostic methods that can be used in routine clinical investigation for tailoring personalised treatment plans both pre- and post-surgery. In this way, a CSC gene signature, reactivity and load can be estimated and, by using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in a personalised therapeutic regimen, the most effective treatment response can be predicted. Furthermore, we propose incorporation of CSC-targeted therapies in conjugation with conventional chemo- and radiotherapies to eradicate CSCs, thereby eliminating the risk of relapse and therapy failure in cancer patients. This review also describes multiple potential molecular targets that may be used to target CSCs and emphasises the need for further evaluation, in order that they may be applied clinically.
SN  - 2073-4409
ER  -