Stem cells and models of astrocytomas

To provide a critical assessment of current stem-cell based pre-clinical models of astrocytomas (gliomas). Data were archived from MEDLINE using Boolean formatted keyword queries. Top articles were selected for critical analyses depending on the qualitative assessment of the citation index, novelty of the findings, reputation of the research group and relevance to stem-cell based pre-clinical models of astrocytomas. The emergence of stem-cell based pre-clinical models of gliomas offers advantages for cellular transformation studies over other current in-vitro cell cultured based models. Cells utilized in these stem-cell based pre-clinical models are easier to transform, with the induced tumours demonstrating very high molecular and pathological recapitulations of astrocytomas that are derived from humans. These stem-cell based models fall into two categories. In the first, synthetic astrocytes can be differentiated from various stem cell sources such as the nervous system and embryos, and utilized in elegant forward genetic strategies to develop novel astrocytoma pre-clinical models. The second category represents a cancer stem cell pre-clinical model. In this model, glioma stem cells exhibit very high pathological recapitulations of the human tumours, and can be very informative to comprehend the basis of radio-chemoresistance among patients. The quest to develop robust pre-clinical models of astrocytomas is on an ongoing basis. The models are of clinical importance for the discovery of effective treatment modalities that can considerably improve the health of patients with this deadly disease.