Role of Rho GTPases in stem cell regulation

The future of regenerative medicine relies on our understanding of stem cells which are essential for tissue/organ generation and regeneration to maintain and/or restore tissue homeostasis. Rho family GTPases are known regulators of a wide variety of cellular pro-cesses related to cytoskeletal dynamics, polarity and gene transcription. In the last decade, major new advances have been made in understanding the regulatory role and mechanism of Rho GTPases in self-renewal, differentiation, migration, and lineage speci-fication in tissue-specific signaling mechanisms in various stem cell types to regulate embryonic development, adult tissue homeostasis, and tissue regeneration upon stress or damage. Importantly, implication of Rho GTPases and their upstream regulators or downstream effectors in the transformation, migration, invasion and tumorigenesis of diverse cancer stem cells highlights the potential of Rho GTPase targeting in cancer therapy. In this review, we discuss recent evidence of Rho GTPase signaling in the regu-lation of embryonic stem cells, multiple somatic stem cells, and cancer stem cells. We propose promising areas where Rho GTPase pathways may serve as useful targets for stem cell manipulation and related future therapies.

Automated summary

The future of regenerative medicine hinges on understanding the role of stem cells in tissue generation and restoration. Rho GTPases play a crucial role in regulating various cellular processes related to cell dynamics, and their implications in cancer stem cells open up new possibilities for cancer therapy.