Cancer Stemness as a Target for Immunotherapy is Shaped by Proinflammatory Stress.

Cancer stem cells represent a rare subpopulation of cancer cells carrying self-renewal and differentiation features in multi-step tumorigenesis, tumor recurrence and metastasis. Proinflammatory stress is highly associated with cancer stemness via induction of cytokines, tumorpromoting immune cells and cancer stemness-related signaling pathways. This review summarizes the major pro-inflammatory factors affecting cancer stem cell characteristics and the critical immunotherapeutic strategies to eliminate cancer stem cells.