Published in

Impact Journals, Oncotarget, 4(2), p. 313-320, 2011

DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.259

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The beating heart of melanomas: a minor subset of cancer cells sustains tumor growth

Journal article published in 2011 by Patrick Schmidt ORCID, Hinrich Abken
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The recent observation that targeted elimination of a minor subpopulation of melanoma cells can lastingly eradicate the tumor lesion provides strong evidence that an established melanoma lesion is hierarchically organized and maintained by definite subset of cells but not by every random cancer cell. This review discusses the concepts of discrete cancer stem cells and of a cellular hierarchy in melanomas, the rationale for shifting therapies from broad tumor cell cytotoxicity into selective cancer cell elimination strategies and the challenges for future therapeutic concepts.