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Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer

  • 143 Accesses

Synonyms

Ovarian cancer-initiating cells; Ovarian cancer stem-like cells

Definition

Consistent with the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis, ovarian cancer stem cells represent a subset of cancer cells lying at the top of hierarchy of all malignant cells that form the bulk of ovarian cancers. Cancer stem cells display ability to continually sustain tumor growth through their indefinite self-renewal and ability to generate all cancer cell lineages (transit-amplifying cells, differentiated cells) found in particular tumors through their (aberrant) differentiation.

Characteristics

Classification of Ovarian Cancers

Ovarian cancers represent a highly heterogeneous group of diseases with distinct cellular origin, epidemiology, pathogenesis, morphological and molecular characteristics, and clinical course. Considering cell types from which ovarian cancers presumably originate, most ovarian cancers can be classified into three major categories: epithelial (~90 %), sex cord-stromal (~8 %), and...

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References

  • Ahmed N, Abubaker K, Findlay JK (2014) Ovarian cancer stem cells: molecular concepts and relevance as therapeutic targets. Mol Asp Med 39:110–125

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  • Burgos-Ojeda D, Rueda BR, Buckanovich RJ (2012) Ovarian cancer stem cell markers: prognostic and therapeutic implications. Cancer Lett 322:1–7

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  • Pattabiraman DR, Weinberg RA (2014) Tackling the cancer stem cells – what challenges do they pose? Nat Rev Drug Discov 13:497–512

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shah MJ, Landen CN (2014) Ovarian cancer stem cells: are they real and why are they important? Gynecol Oncol 132:483–489

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  • Visvader JE, Lindeman GJ (2012) Cancer stem cells: current status and evolving complexities. Cancer Stem Cell 10:717–728

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See Also

  • (2012) Transit amplifying cells. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 3766. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5926

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Roman Mezencev

Authors
  1. Roman Mezencev
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roman Mezencev .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Mezencev, R. (2014). Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_7203-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_7203-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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