Indian Journal of Clinical Anatomy and Physiology

Stem cells have the remarkable properties of developing into a variety of cell types in the human body. Two basic characteristics of stem pluripotent cells are their capacity for self-renewal and multi lineage differentiation. Since then, some advances have been made towards understanding the basic biology of stemness and their differentiation into different cell lineages, but harnessing of their promised potential to usher in the era of regenerative medicine is still a long way to go. The medical community is now researching and developing the ability to use stem cells in the battle against many types of cancer. It has been shown that the transplant of stem cells into cancerous regions of the body results in the formation of cells that target and attach themselves to the cancerous cells and can trigger cell death, eventually reducing the number of cancer cells and size of the tumor as the process repeats many times. This review is aimed at revisiting classification of stem cell with enlightment in newer concepts and ongoing related controversies.

Keywords: Pluripotent stem cell, hematopoietic stem cell, cancer stem cell, ethics, induced pluripotent stem cell.