Epidermal stem cells and cancer stem cells: Insights into cancer and potential therapeutic strategies

Epithelial keratinocyte regeneration has been exemplified as dependent on a population of cellular progenitors that have retained developmental pluripotency, a latent capacity for proliferation and differentiation with a prolonged lifespan. Recent evidence suggests that the cell populations that regulate the development of normal tissues, and which play vital roles in maintaining the overall homeostasis of the tissue, might be the key target population that is essential for malignant cancer development, thus giving rise to the notion of ‘cancer stem cells’. This review examines the leading research into the relationship between adult stem cells in human skin marked by p63αΔN, their putative importance in cancer development, and how we might exploit our evolving knowledge of adult tissue stem cells to aid cancer treatments in the future. Furthermore, the review examines information regarding ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase and key regulatory events that take place on p53, only within putative keratinocyte stem cells that are transcriptionally regulated by p63αΔN.