Lung cancer stem cells—characteristics, phenotype

Lung cancer is considered to be a pandemic with major financial and social consequences (1). It is estimated to be responsible for nearly 1.59 million deaths worldwide (19.4% of all cancers in total) (2,3). In the last years, there is growing evidence that solid tumors are composed of cells with different biological properties. Despite advances in definitive local and/or systemic treatment, lung cancer has the remarkable ability to recur suggesting that minimal residual disease contains a cell population that sustains its capability to grow despite treatment. This enormous capacity for self-renewal and regeneration is a biological function typical for normal somatic stem cells therefore this particular cell population within tumors is termed ‘cancer stem cells’ (CSCs) (4,5). In this review we give an overview of lung CSCs characteristics and different phenotypes