Glioma stem cells and the occurrence of tumor blood vessels

Abstract

Epithelial glioma is the most common brain cancer, accounting for 35.26%-60.69% of intracranial tumors with an average of 44.69%, and it remains the greatest challenge in the field of neurosurgery. The median survival time of patients with advanced glioma is only 12 to 18 months due to the characteristics of high aggression, and the therapeutic effect was poor though surgery, chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapy being treated. Because of the presence of heterogeneity and the differentiation disorder, only a small number of glioma cells are the source of tumor growth and metastasis, which are highly resistant to traditional treatments. They are deemed as the “seed” tumor cells as they could get rid of the effect of the treatment and reconstruct the organization of tumor. They are also termed as brain tumor stem cell (BTSC) or glioma stem cells (GSCs) since neural stem cells share similar features with them. Recent data reveal that they are directly related with invasion, angiogenesis, tolerance, chemotherapy, recurrence of glioma. Based on the research result by the team, the paper elaborates the characteristics of GSCs and the relationship with the tumor angiogenesis.