Ashna

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a critical subpopulation driving tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. Their remarkable plasticity and ability to self-renew underlie cancer’s resilience and recurrence following conventional treatments. Recent advances in liquid biopsy technology have transformed cancer diagnostics by enabling the minimally invasive detection and dynamic monitoring of tumor-derived materials, including circulating tumor cells, cell-free nucleic acids, and exosomes. This review synthesizes the current landscape of CSC biomarkers, encompassing classical surface markers, epigenetic and metabolic signatures, and emerging multi-omic molecular profiles. We assess how these biomarkers are integrated into advanced liquid biopsy platforms, evaluating their diagnostic sensitivity and specificity as well as their clinical utility in tracking CSC dynamics throughout cancer progression and therapy. Technical challenges such as isolating rare CSC populations and distinguishing CSC-specific signals from normal stem cells are addressed, alongside developments in single-cell analysis, computational modeling, and multiplexed marker assays enhancing biomarker precision. Furthermore, we highlight the tumor microenvironment’s role in modulating CSC phenotypes and implications for biomarker reliability. By bridging foundational CSC biology with cutting-edge technologies in liquid biopsy, this review outlines translational strategies to better detect, characterize, and target CSCs, ultimately striving to improve outcomes by overcoming therapeutic resistance and reducing cancer relapse.

Drug information service provides accurate, relevant and unbiased information on drugs and any aspects related to drugs. The objective of this study was to conduct the quality assurance of drug information service provided. The study was conducted for a period of six months in the drug information centre of a tertiary care hospital in Calicut. Quality assurance was done on the basis of modified systematic approach. A total of 45 drug information queries were received in the drug information center during the study period. Among the queries majority were from pharmacy (77.78%) and nursing station (22.22%). A checklist on basis of modified systematic approach was used to verify the quality. In the queries collected 85% enquirer’s details was relevant enough and 15% were incomplete. Drug information response had a professional style in 70% and whereas 30% were not having standard presentation such as alignment or spacing, etc. Among the 20 of the drug information collected for evaluation 90% had relevant information for the query and remaining 10% needed more details. In the source of references given in the response 60% were partial and 40% were incomplete. Based on the time taken for response 55% was timely given and 45% took more time than it really required. The documentation procedure was complete and perfect in all case. Study concluded that although drug information service is actively performed the quality of service has to be upgraded. Standard operating procedure has to be framed and revised as per the lacunas found.