In breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in women, tumors contain a small amount of so-called cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). Being able to eliminate breast-cancer stem-like cells in a targeted way is essential for developing successful therapies — conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy followed by drug intake, do not target CSCs. A better understanding of the processes generating CSCs in breast-cancer tumors is needed. Noriko Gotoh from Kanazawa University and colleagues have now uncovered a signaling pathway directly related to the proliferation of CSCs in breast cancer.
