The objective of the present chapter is to discuss the identification of cancer
stem cells (CSC) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAs) and hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC) and to briefly overview the current therapies targeting this cell
population. The reason to restrict the discussion to these particular cancer types is that
both are described by a poor prognosis and resistance to conventional therapies.
Therefore, CSC may be an important hint in improving the therapeutic approach in
both instances. Due to the capacity of CSC to escape chemo and radiotherapy, novel
means of approaching these cells are necessary in order to improve outcome
therapeutically.
Keywords: Cancer stem cell, Cell surface marker, Drug resistance, Hepatic
cellular carcinoma, Liver cancer, Metastases, Pancreatic cancer.
