Targeting cancer stem cells in gastric cancer

Abstract:

Gastric cancer (GC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite the recent advance of anticancer drugs and the development of molecular-targeted drugs, the prognosis of patients with advanced GC remains poor, especially in Western countries, and is mainly implicated in tumor relapse and metastasis. Cancer stem cells are selectively capable of tumor initiation and implicated in tumor relapse and metastasis, thus governing the prognosis of GC patients. Recent investigations have indicated that gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs) are likely to be the most crucial target in GC treatments. Therefore, the identification of key molecules related to GCSCs is expected to contribute toward the extermination of GC. This review presents the current molecular-targeted therapies against GC according to recent clinical trials and the findings regarding GCSCs and their maintenance that will enable the development of novel therapeutic strategies for patients with GC.

Keywords::

• molecular-targeted therapy
• cancer stem cells
• gastric cancer

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.