Quiescent, Slow-Cycling Stem Cell Populations in Cancer: A Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Significance

Table 1

Comparison of characteritics between adult and cancer stem cells.

Characteristics	Adult Stem Cells	Cancer Stem Cells
Replicative Potential	Extensive proliferative capacity with the potential to exhaust regenerative ability	Extensive proliferative capacity with the potential to exhaust regenerative ability
Differentiation Ability	All lineages of the specific tissue	All heterogeneous lineages within the original tumor
Metabolic Activity	Low	Unknown
Signaling Pathway	Hedghog, Wnt, Notch, and BMP	Aberrant regulation of Hedghog, Wnt, Notch, BMP, and others
Cell Cycling Regulation	Slow cycling, tightly controlled	Potentially slow cycling, unknown
Location	Niche: Compartmentalized or associated with stromal layer	Unknown
Adhesion	Tightly Adhesive	Unknown
Migration Potential	No/Slow Migration	Epithelial to Mesenchymal Characteristics