Review Article Histology, Cytology and Embryology (HCE) Histol Cytol Embryol, 2017 doi: 10.15761/HCE.1000104 Volume 1(1): 1-5 ISSN: 2514-5940 Gallbladder cancer stem cell markers: An updated brief review A.N Srivastava 1 , Naseem Fatima 2 * and Vijay Kumar 3 1 Director Research, Consulting Professor, Department of Pathology, Era’s Lucknow Medical College & Hospital, Lucknow, India 2 *Research Assistant, Department of Pathology, Era’s Lucknow Medical College & Hospital, Lucknow, India 3 Professor, Department of Surgical Oncology, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, India Abstract Gallbladder cancer is the most aggressive gastrointestinal tract cancer. It is a leading cause of cancer deaths in north india. Te symptoms of gallbladder cancer are non specifc, patients are diagnosed at very last stage, as a result, most of the patients die within 6 months of the disease, and hence the average 5-year survival is low to 5%. Cancer stem cell hypothesis provides an important cellular mechanism to understand the abnormal behavior exhibited by the tumors. Terefore, cancer stem cell markers may serve as novel therapeutic targets as well as diagnostic or prognostic markers in gallbladder cancer. In this review, we provide an overview of gallbladder cancer with the aim of concerning the role of cancer stem cell marker in the signaling pathways implicated along with the signifcant role of cancer stem cell markers in gallbladder cancer. Correspondence to: Naseem Fatima, Research Assistant, Department of Pathology, Era’s Lucknow Medical College & Hospital, Lucknow, E-mail: naseemfatima.fatima@gmail.com Key words: gallbladder cancer, gallstone, cancer stem cell markers Received: January 07, 2017; Accepted: March 03, 2017; Published: March 06, 2017 Introduction Gallbladder cancer (GBC), the major type of gastrointestinal cancer, is one of the most common types of malignancy, and ranked as the third leading cause of cancer death in North India (21.5 / 100,000). [1,2]. Tere are no specifc sign and symptoms in the early stage of the disease; therefore it is diagnosed at its advanced stage. Poor prognosis shows low survival. It can be cured only if it is diagnosed before it is spread, and can be removed by surgery. Gallbladder cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells develops in the tissue of gallbladder, later spread to other parts of the body (metastasis where-in cells break away from where they began and travel through lymph system and blood). Gallbladder cancer spreads to the liver; they are actually gallbladder cancer cells. It may also spread to surrounding tissues and organs, through the abdominal cavity or distal part of the body. Scientists have found several risk factors that make a person more likely to develop gallbladder cancer. Cholecystitis is also now seen ofen in much younger age group persons in North India. Chronic infammation and dysplasia have been proposed to explain the association of gallstones and cancer. Besides, several other factors have also been proposed the critically and one of the views is of the presence and activation of Cancer Stem Cells (Figure1). Concepts of stem cells and cancer stem cells Stem cells play many vital roles in our body, they are long lived, uncommon, mother cells which have ability to self renew. [3] Self renewal, one of the defning characteristics of the stem cells, is a cell division in which one or both of the resulting daughter cells remains undiferentiated, retaining the ability to give rise to another stem cell with the same capacity to proliferate as the parental cell [4] and have the potential to become any type of cell, they can become cells of the blood, heart, bones, skin, muscles, brain etc.[5]. When mutated, they can potentially become cancer stem cells (CSCs). Tere are two types of stem cells: Pluripotent Stem Cells (PS cells) are the type of stem cells present in embryos that helps babies grows within the womb. Recent research has enabled scientists to derive pluripotent cells from adult human skin cells. Tese are termed induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells [6]. Fetal stem cells are obtained from tissues of a developing human fetus and are generally obtained afer an abortion. Tese stem cells are not immortal but have a high level of division and are multipotent. Every organ or tissue in the body contains a small number of cells called Adult stem cells; they ensure a continuous supply of new cells to replace old cells that are destroyed [7]. Role of cancer stem cells in tumorigenesis Organs develops from stem cells, same as tumors also consists of rapidly proliferating cells and also represent a disparate collection of abnormal cells with dissimilar phenotypes [8]. Tese abnormal cells are believed to be originated from a self –renewing population that gives rise to discriminatory progenitor cells. Cancer stem cell research hypothesized that the mutation in stem cell niche population during development results in the reproduction of mutated daughter cells, these cells are very much closer to become tumor and their number increase the chance of cancerous mutation. Today, increasing evidence has confrmed that the cancers consist of small population of cancer stem cells or tumor initiating cells (TIC) which are considered being responsible for the recurrence of cancer and metastasis. It has been reported by the researchers that the CSCs are present in multiple solid tumors, in breast tumors [9], brain [10],