Cancer stem cells in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Identification, prognostic and treatment perspectives

• In oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, a few markers were proposed to identify the cancer stem cells in the tumour.
• Stem cell markers are associated with patient's prognosis, pathological stages, cancer recurrence and therapy resistance in ESCC.
• Finding new cancer stem cell targets could be used to decide treatment of patients with ESCC.
• Designing drugs to manipulate the known molecular targets in CSCs could improve the management of patients with ESCC.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a vital subpopulation of cells to target for the treatment of cancers. In oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), there are several markers such as CD44, ALDH, Pygo2, MAML1, Twist1, Musashi1, Side population (SP), CD271 and CD90 that have been proposed to identify the cancer stem cells in individual cancer masses. It has also been demonstrated that stem cell markers like ALDH1, HIWI, Oct3/4, ABCG2, SOX2, SALL4, BMI-1, NANOG, CD133 and podoplanin are associated with patient's prognosis, pathological stages, cancer recurrence and therapy resistance. Finding new cancer stem cell targets or designing drugs to manipulate the known molecular targets in CSCs could be useful for improvements in clinical outcomes of the disease. To conclude, data suggest that CSCs in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma are related to resistance to therapy and poor prognosis of patients with ESCC. Therefore, innovative insights into CSC biology and CSC-targeted therapies will help to achieve more effective management of patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.