The outcome for glioblastoma patients remains extremely poor, despite the advances in surgical and medical fields. It is hypothesized that glioblastoma progression, as well as tumor recurrence, is driven by a small number of cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are characterized by their ability of self-renewal and proliferation, giving rise to progeny of transformation into multiple neuroepithelial lineages. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2016) 40: 990-997 © TÜBİTAK doi: Review Article Glioblastoma stem cells: a therapeutic challenge 1,2,3 1,2 4 5, Erdoğan Pekcan ERKAN , Ufuk VURGUN , Reşat Serhat ERBAYRAKTAR , Zübeyde ERBAYRAKTAR * 1 İzmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey 2 Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey 3 PharmaPlus Laboratories, PharmaPlus İlaç ve Sağlık Ürünleri Ltd. Şti., İzmir, Turkey 4 Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey 5 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: The outcome for glioblastoma patients remains extremely poor, despite the advances in surgical and medical fields. It is hypothesized that glioblastoma progression, as well as tumor recurrence, is driven by a small number of cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are characterized by their ability of self-renewal and proliferation, giving rise to progeny of transformation into multiple neuroepithelial lineages. Understanding the biology of CSCs is likely to explain why existing treatment strategies fail to affect the relatively quiescent and resistant CSC compartment. Here, we review the current knowledge on CSCs in glial tumors. In addition, we discuss the importance of the CSC hypothesis in the advancement of therapies for brain tumors. Key words: Glioblastoma, cancer stem cell, therapy, resistance 1. Introduction Glioblastoma is considered as the most aggressive primary brain tumor and has an extremely poor prognosis. The median 5-year survival rate is less than 3%, which makes this disease a devastating condition for both patients and their caregivers. Resistance to available therapies and recurrence are common in most cases; .
