Cancer Stem Cells and Immunity

Cancer stem cells (CSC) are important components of a tumor microenvironment (TME) due to their unique characteristic features. CSCs have self-renewal capacity and higher treatment resistance mechanisms compared to non-CSC tumor cells. Their interaction and relationship with other cell types in the TME, especially the immune cells, can have major impact on tumor progression. Advances in research have paved the way to understand the CSC—immune cell relationship and how this could be interfered to have better treatment outcomes. Cancer immunotherapy is a rapidly advancing field using the body’s own immune system mechanisms to attack cancer cells. There are several different cancer immunotherapy approaches that can be used depending on various factors such as the type of cancer, anatomical location and presence of cancer specific markers. Manipulating the CSC—immune cell cross-talk even further and enhancing our understanding on the topic combined with advances in drug development, has the potential to lead to better therapeutic options.