Cancer Stem Cells

View Portfolio

Our reagents for cancer stem cell research are organized below by workflow: Isolate and Culture, Verification, Differentiation, and Investigation. Click on the navigation arrows to quickly jump to the different steps of the workflow.

•  
• Isolate and Culture
• Verify
• Investigate

MagCellect™ CD24^-CD44⁺ Breast Cancer Stem Cell Isolation Kit

Isolates CD24^-CD44⁺ breast cancer stem cells via negative and positive selection.

Tumor Spheroid Assays

Evaluates tumor cell proliferation, viability, and invasion in vitro.

StemXVivo™ Serum-Free Tumorsphere Media

Specialized semi-solid media optimized for tumorsphere formation.

CryoDefend™-Stem Cells Media

Media for defined, protein-free cryopreservation of stem cells.

Growth Factors

Premium quality proteins that support cancer stem cell proliferation in culture.

•  
• Isolate and Culture
• Verify
• Investigate

Antibodies to Detect Cancer Stem Cell Markers

Analyzes the expression of identified cancer stem cell markers in specific malignancies.

•  
• Isolate and Culture
• Verify
• Investigate

Small Molecules to Investigate CSCs

View a listing of Tocris brand pharmacological reagents for cancer stem cell research.

Cancer Stem Cell Transcription Factors

To study the expression of genes that control abnormal self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation of neoplastic cells.

Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition Products

Tools to induce and evaluate epithelial to mesenchymal transition, the biological process implicated in cancer stem cell generation and metastasis.

Tumor Spheroid Assays

To evaluate cancer stem cell proliferation, viability, and invasion in vitro.

Cell Migration & Invasion Assays

Fluorescence-based assays for investigating chemotaxis, cell migration, and cell invasion.

What are Cancer Stem Cells?

The cancer stem cell hypothesis states that a subset of self-renewing cells drive tumorigenesis. If this is the case, it suggests that targeted elimination of the stem cell-like population of cancer cells is a viable therapeutic strategy for several malignancies. However, an overriding experimental limitation for cancer stem cell researchers is the ability to identify and isolate cancer stem cells from other tumor cells. To address this need, R&D Systems offers a broad selection of tools to facilitate the identification and isolation of specific cancer stem cell populations. Classical developmental signaling pathways, which are implicated in oncogenesis, are also associated with regulation of stem cell self-renewal and provide additional areas of focus for understanding cancer stem cell biology.