Open Access

REVIEW

Assessing the Hematological Cancer Stem Cell Landscape to Improve Immunotherapy Clinical Decisions

Sotirios Charalampos Diamantoudis^1,#,*, Androulla N. Miliotou^2,#, Eleftheria Galatou², Stergiani Telliou³, Konstantinos Sideris⁴, Nikolaos Grigoriadis¹, Ioannis S. Vizirianakis^1,2,*

1 Laboratory of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
2 Department of Health Sciences, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, CY-1700, Cyprus
3 Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, 68100, Greece
4 School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece

* Corresponding Authors: Sotirios Charalampos Diamantoudis. Email: , ; Ioannis S. Vizirianakis. Email: ,
# These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Stem Cells Therapy in Health and Disease)

BIOCELL 2025, 49(10), 1799-1858. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2025.067216

Received 27 April 2025; Accepted 28 July 2025; Issue published 22 October 2025

Abstract

Hematological cancer stem cells (HCSCs) is a subpopulation of cells within hematological cancers that, through their characteristics, enhance malignancy and render their therapy more challenging. By uncovering the underlying mechanisms behind characteristic properties such as self-renewal, immune evasion, and conventional therapy resistance, as well as the major differences between other cancers and physiological cells, new and alternative targets can be assessed for use in existing and novel immunotherapeutic interventions. Through the evaluation of the existing literature, one can realize that there have already been several studies addressing the use of stem cell transplantation (SCT), monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), cell therapies, cancer vaccines, and oncolytic viruses, with varying degrees of success. As such, this study aims to combine existing information and clinical evidence to assess and bring to the spotlight targets related to HCSCs that can be considered for the improvement of therapeutic interventions.

---

Graphic Abstract

---

Keywords

---