This review summarizes information regarding the rare population of very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) that has been identified in adult tissues, emphasizing both their unique morphological features and potential biological significance. We focus on their pluripotent nature and expression of markers characteristic for embryonic stem cells (ESCs), epiblast (EP)SCs, and primordial germ ...

abstract introduction: cancer stem cells are a small subpopulation of cells within a tumor which are responsible for maintaining the tumor mass. a number of factors such as oct-4 that govern the fate of adult stem cells also play a role in malignant cell transformation. oct-4 is a key regulator of self-renewal in embryonic stem cells; its expression is potentially correlated with tumorigenesis ...