Cancer stem cells articles from across Nature Portfolio

Aberration of chromatin organisation is linked to cancer progression and cancer cell plasticity. Here, the authors investigate changes in chromatin state during the transition of cancer cells to cancer stem cells and, using a CTCF-cohesin contact reporter CRISPR screen, identify TLK2 as a driver of plasticity via regulation of chromatin loop formation.

Colon stem cells expressing the surface markers NOX1 and NPY1R can give rise to colon cancer in mice.

In a study published in Nature Immunology, Fuentes et al. demonstrate that the pre-T cell receptor (TCR) is expressed in leukaemia-initiating cells in patients with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and that targeting it can inhibit tumour progression.

In this Journal Club. Gupta and Das discuss a study demonstrating how Apc-deficient intestinal stem cells (ISCs) gain a competitive advantage over normal ISCs through the upregulation of NOTUM.