SeminarsinCancerBiology45(2017)3–12ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirectSeminarsinCancerBiologyjournalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/semcancerReviewLamininsandcancerstemcells:Partnersincrime?YanQina,SergeyRodinb,OscarE.Simonsonc,d,FrédéricHollandea,∗aDepartmentofPathology,TheUniversityofMelbourne,Parkville,VIC3010,AustraliabDepartmentofMedicalBiochemistryandBiophysics,KarolinskaInstitute,Stockholm,SwedencDepartmentofMolecularMedicineandSurgery,KarolinskaInstitute,Stockholm,SwedendDepartmentofCardiothoracicSurgery,UppsalaUniversityHospital,Uppsala,SwedenarticleinfoArticlehistory:Received10May2016Accepted30July2016Availableonline1August2016Keywords:BasementmembraneLamininsCancerstemcellsPluripotentstemcellsabstractAsoneofthepredominantproteinfamilieswithintheextracellularmatrixbothstructurallyandfunction-ally,lamininshavebeenshowntobeheavilyinvolvedintumorprogressionanddrugresistance.Lamininsparticipateinkeycellulareventsfortumorangiogenesis,cellinvasionandmetastasisdevelopment,includingtheregulationofepithelial-mesenchymaltransitionandbasementmembraneremodeling,whicharetightlyassociatedwiththephenotypiccharacteristicsofstem-likecells,particularlyinthecontextofcancer.Inaddition,agreatdealofstudiesandreportshashighlightedthecriticalrolesoflamininsinmodulatingstemcellphenotypeanddifferentiation,aspartofthestemcellniche.Stem-mingfromthesediscoveriesagrowingbodyofliteraturesuggeststhatlamininsmayactasregulatorsofcancerstemcells,atumorcellsubpopulationthatplaysaninstrumentalroleinlong-termcancermainte-nance,metastasisdevelopmentandtherapeuticresistance.Theaccumulatingevidenceinthisemergingresearchareasuggeststhatlamininsrepresentpotentialtherapeutictargetsforanti-cancertreatmentsagainstcancerstemcells,andthattheymaybeusedaspredictiveandprognosticmarkerstoinformclinicalmanagementandimprovepatientsurvival.©2016ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.Contents1.Introduction............................................................................................................
