Cancer cell heterogeneity: an essay

Heterogeneity in Cancer: Cancer Stem Cells versus Clonal Evolution by Mark Shackleton, Elsa Quintana, Eric R Fearon and Sean J Morrison, Cell 2009(Sep 4); 138(5): 822-29. [FriendFeed entry][Full text]. Summary:

The identification and characterization of cancer stem cells might lead to more effective treatments for some cancers by focusing therapy on the most malignant cells. To achieve this goal it will be necessary to determine which cancers follow a cancer stem cell model and which do not, to address technical issues related to tumorigenesis assays, and to test the extent to which cancer cell heterogeneity arises from genetic versus epigenetic differences.