Relationship between leukaemic stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells and their clinical application

Abstract

The world is aging and with it an associated increase in malignancies. Haematological malignancies especially Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) are no exception to this trend. With scientific advances, development of new AML treatments has improved patient mortality. One future research interest would be Leukeamic Stem Cells (LSC). This review aims to briefly highlight main LSC characteristics and their relationship with hematopoietic stem cells. Key LSC characteristics include dysregulated apoptosis, capacity for self-renewal, genomic instability, dysregulated energetics, immune privilege and an altered tumor microenvironment. Similar characteristics are also found in HSCs though in a regulated form. Classifying these characteristics will aid in the development of clinical biomarkers for LSC which is a potential clinical application of LSC biology. LSC biomarkers might prove to be critical in future AML management through improving accuracy of AML diagnosis, providing targeted treatment to minimize side effects, refinement of prognosis and relapse risk for earlier intervention.

Keywords:

• Acute myeloid leukemia
• leukaemic stem cells
• hematopoeitic stem cells

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was not necessary for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).