Top Notch cancer stem cells by paracrine NF-κB signaling in breast cancer

Cancer stem cells are likely to play critical roles in metastasis, therapy resistance, and recurrence of hematological and solid malignancies. It is well known that the stem cell niche plays a key role for asymmetric division and homeostasis of normal stem cells, whereas cancer stem cells seem to use these niches. Among many pathways involved in self-renewal of cancer stem cells, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling has been documented to promote their expansion in a cell-autonomous fashion. A recent study, however, suggests that paracrine NF-κB activation promotes the expansion of cancer stem cells through the activation of Notch in basal-type breast cancer cells.