Distinctive Features of Adult Stem Cells vs Cancer Stem Cells

Cancer stem cells and adult stem cells have several common and distinctive features.

Adult stem cells are found in most body tissues and organs. They have limited self-renewal capacity.

Cancer  stem cells are confined to tumors and have indefinite self-renewal capability.

Adult stem cells are generally tissue-specific, so they multiply to develop the type of tissue from which they originate. Adult stem cells can stay dormant for years until they are activated to repair or grow new tissue.

On the contrary, cancer stem cells multiply to form cancer cells with potential to terminally differentiate and a few cancer stem cells.

These cancer stem cells can actively proliferate, are resistant to chemotherapy, and can bluff the body’s immune system to metastasize to various remote sites.

Unlike the adult stem cells, most cancer stem cells show abnormal karyotypes.

Since adult stem cells live longer than other normal cells, there is a probability that they might acquire several genetic mutations to become cancerous. But cancer stem cells cannot be transformed back into normal stem cells.