• *Department of General Surgery, No.3 Peoples Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201900, ChinaCorresponding Author: JIANG Bo-jian, E-mail: Jiang_md@hotmail.com;
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Objective To summarize the status of tumor stem cells investigations in gastrointestinal carcinoma. Methods Domestic and international publications online involving tumor stem cells of gastrointestinal carcinoma in recent years were collected and reviewed. Results There are a small quantity of cancer cells shown some stem cell characteristics. They are named tumor stem cell and play an important role in tumorigenesis, proliferation, metastasis and recurrence. And also, tumor stem cells can resist the effect of antineoplastic drugs and lead to tumor recurrence. These tumor-initiating cells are CD133-positive in the gastrointestinal carcinomas, especially in colorectal cancers. CD133-positive colorectal cancer cells have the abilities of clone, proliferation, differentiation and form metastases. And a high CD133 mRNA content was found in the blood of patients who suffered from bone metastases. Conclusion The characteristics of CD133-positive cancer cell and the mechanisms of stem cell-niche system are the basis of developing better methods to tumor diagnosis and treatment, and provide theoretical basis of new methods, such as targeted therapy.

Citation: ZHANG Peng,YU Jiwei,JIANG Bojian. Tumor Stem Cells in Gastrointestinal Tumorigenesis and Metastasis. CHINESE JOURNAL OF BASES AND CLINICS IN GENERAL SURGERY, 2009, 16(1): 81-84. doi: Copy