The application and limitation of suspension culture in the study of neoplastic stem cells / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Neoplastic stem cells are generally recognized as a key factor in carcinogenesis and progression and metastasis of cancer. Recently, many studies have been focused on neoplastic stem cells. However, in consideration of lack of specific biological marker and unclear information about the allocation and morphology of neoplastic stem cells, it is difficult to separate them from tumor cells directly. The difference in function between neoplastic stem cells and the tumor cells was commonly used to distinguish them. Suspension culture is one of the most widely used methods to identify, enrich and purify neoplastic stem cells. It can conveniently demonstrate the capabilities of self-renewal and proliferation at the single-cell level. However, the neoplastic stem cells harvested from suspension culture are different from the original neoplastic stem cells, and not all of the cells sharing the features of neoplastic stem cells can survive in the suspension culture. Thus, the limitation of application of suspension culture in the study of neoplastic stem cells should be emphasized, and which is reviewed in this paper. Copyright © 2012 by TUMOR.