Stem cells and therapy: cancer stem cells and targeted therapy with DNA repair inhibitors

Cancer stem cells, also known as tumorigenic cells, have the capacity to renew themselves, form different lineages, and use common signaling pathways. Cancer stem cells may be the source of all tumor cells present in a malignant tumor, the cause of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents used for treatment, and the source of cells that lead to distant metastases. It is known that cancer stem cells maintain their vitality by being protected from treatments in various ways, such as increasing their DNA repair capacity. In recent years, studies on the use of DNA repair pathway enzyme inhibitors have increased to eliminate treatment resistance in cancer stem cells. In this section, we explain the resistance mechanisms of cancer stem cells against therapy and give some of the current combinational therapy with chemotherapeutic agents and DNA repair inhibitors.