Studying Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cell Characteristics for Developing New Treatment StrategiesEnza Lonardo 1,2, Michele Cioffi 1, Patricia Sancho 1,3, Shanthini Crusz 3, Christopher Heeschen 1,3
1Stem Cells & Cancer Group, Molecular Pathology Program, Spanish National Cancer Research Center, 2Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), 3Center for Stem Cells in Cancer & Ageing, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs) can be expanded in vitro using the anchorage-independent sphere culture technique, which represents a powerful tool to study CSC biology and can serve as the first step to develop novel CSC-targeting therapies. Here the methodology for expanding, analyzing and targeting of pancreatic CSCs is provided.