Figure 2
From: Cancer stem cells in solid tumors: elusive or illusive?
Relationship between stem cell species. Stem cells are characterized by their ability to form many different types of tissues and their capacity to self-renew. With increasing level of differentiation from progenitor cell to differentiated cell, the plasticity reduces as does the proliferative capacity. Cancer stem cells form at the interface between stem cell and progenitor cells. This phenomenon has lately also been credited to iPS cells and their partially reprogrammed precursors.