Glioma stem cells and their microenvironment: A narrative review on docking and transformation

Abstract

Significant new progress was made 10 years ago in the hypothesis that neuroglial cells, neural stem cells, and glioma stem cells (GSCs) depend on the tumor microenvironment (TME) transformation: (1) Because GSCs also have heterogeneity, they are a state, not an entity. (2) The importance of the border niche among many tumor niches is emphasized because it is a shelter for tumor resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. (3) The plasticity of GSCs and TME cells allows TME cells to become GSC-initiating cells. (4) Future development will entail a close interaction between high-throughput molecular biology and artificial intelligence. In this review, we summarize recent advances in GSCs and their microenvironment from the following three aspects: the constantly updated of concept of stem cells, the concept of TME and niche, and the plasticity of GSCs and TME cells.