**Impact of Stem Cell Genes in Gastric Cancer**

Estefania Carrasco-Garcia, Mikel García-Puga, Manuel Moreno, Nicolas Sampron, Sara Arevalo and Ander Matheu

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69776

#### **Abstract**

Gastric cancer remains one of the leading causes of global cancer mortality. It has been shown that gastric cancer may originate from adult gastric stem cells and that it contains a subpopulation of cancer cells with stem cell characteristics, which are linked to *Helicobacter pylori* infection, therapy resistance and metastasis. Thus, the identification of transcription factors and related signal transduction pathways that regulate stem cell maintenance and lineage allocation is attractive from a clinical standpoint in that it may provide targets for novel cell- or drug-based therapies. This chapter summarizes the role of several important stem cell factors in gastric cancer biology.

**Keywords:** cancer stem cells, gastric cancer, SOX genes, *Helicobacter pylori*
