Dear Colleagues,

Stem cells are defined as cells that have the capacity to perpetuate themselves through self-renewal and to generate mature cells of a specific tissue through differentiation. They are considered to be a promising tool for the treatment of patients experiencing serious degenerative and incurable diseases. Recently, there has been a significant turning point in the field of stem cells after the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) technology. Reprogramming of somatic cells is the hallmark of this technology, and also it can be derived for adult tissues, as well as from the patients’ tissue. Of note, iPS cells technology may overcome the hurdle of moral and ethical issues that arise from using human ES cells, as well as immune rejection. Cancer research also developed a new turn due to iPSC technology. The reprogramming of cancer cells is an interesting approach to the study of cancer-related genes and the interaction between these genes and the cellular microenvironment, before and after reprogramming, to explain the mechanisms of various stages of cancer development. Cancer cell reprogramming may be one of the ways to develop novel cancer treatments, as cancer cells may be converted into an immature or benign state. As normal stem cells and cancer cells share the capacity to self-renew, it seems reasonable to propose that newly-arising cancer cells appropriate the machinery for self-renewing cell division, which is normally expressed in stem cells. Evidence shows that many pathways that are classically associated with cancer may also regulate normal stem cell development. Signaling pathways associated with oncogenesis, metastasis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), or mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET), such as the Notch, Sonic hedgehog (Shh), Wnt, kinase, GPCR signaling pathways, may also regulate stem cell self-renewal.

In this Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, the focus will be on cancer stem cells, reprogramming cancer cells or malignant cancer cells to normal or benign tumor cells, or signaling pathways regulating cancer stem cell self-renewal or oncogenesis metastasis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), or mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET) in relation to new treatment options or other biological and medical applications.

Prof. Dr. Ssang-Goo Cho
Guest Editor

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• Cancer Cell Reprogramming in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (6 articles)