Neurobiology: At the root of brain cancer.

This article focuses on brain cancer. Brain cancers are among the most devastating tumours in humans and are often rapidly fatal despite aggressive treatments. These tumours typically contain varied populations of cells that differ in the specific proteins or markers displayed on the cell surface. Insights into how tissues are maintained provide hints as to why only a minority of the cancer cells drives tumour formation. Most cancers arise in tissues, such as the bone marrow, gut and breast, that are composed of a cellular hierarchy in which a small population of stem cells gives rise to progenitor cells that regenerate mature tissue cells.