An overview of therapeutic approaches to brain tumor stem cells

Primary and secondary malignant central nervous system (CNS) tumors are devastating invasive tumors able to give rise to many kinds of differentiated tumor cells. Glioblastoma multiform (GBM), is the most malignant brain tumor, in which its growth and persistence depend on cancer stem cells with enhanced DNA damage repair program that also induces recurrence and resists current chemo- and radiotherapies. Unlike non-tumor stem cells, tumor stem cells lack the normal mechanisms that regulate proliferation and differentiation, resulting in uncontrolled production and incomplete differentiation of tumor cells. In current paper recent developments and new researches in the field of brain tumor stem cells have been reviewed.