Compact introduction of stem cell association with skin cancer

Abstract

Stem cells are defined as specific undifferentiated cells with self-replicating ability which are common to multicellular organisms. They possess the characteristics to replace, generate and endure terminally differentiated cells.Normal adult stem cells reside in most somatic tissues, where they form the cellular basis for tissue homeostasis, maintenance, and repair, as has been shown, for example, in the skin.It has been recently suggested that oncogenic mutations and other genetic and epigenetic defects could be inherited from transformed normal stem cells, giving rise to some of the cell populations observed in many tumors . A number of hypotheses, mostly based on new experimental evidences, have been proposed to explain the presence of cancer stem cells in cancer and the implications for future therapies.