I’d like to capture the attention of readers on some reviews, what i consider essential and modern.

Today we were discuss about recent advance in leukemia stem cell identification and right after that i found some answers to my questions in the excellent review of Matthew Stubbs and Scott Armstrong - Therapeutic Implications of Leukemia Stem Cell Development published in Clinical Cancer Research June 15, 2007.

Authors are leading scientists in the field give us modern concept of leukemic stem cells and leukemogenesis.

One quote:

An important question in cancer biology is whether tumors arise from normal tissue stem cells or from more differentiated progenitors (4, 5), as the cell of origin may influence therapeutic efficacy. If, for example, the initial genetic event in myeloid leukemogenesis must occur in a normal HSC, the eradication of this preleukemic cell might be quite difficult without a significant detrimental effect on normal stem cells. If the initial event can occur in more committed hematopoietic progenitor cells, however, then eradication might be more easily attained.

And i really like this scheme from review:
N = the initial genetic event, X = subsequent mutations

You can read this review for free online - full text

It’s easy and pleasurable reading!