TY - JOUR AU - Mariniello, Katia AU - Ruiz-Babot, Gerard AU - McGaugh, Emily C. AU - Nicholson, James G. AU - Gualtieri, Angelica AU - Gaston-Massuet, Carles AU - Nostro, Maria Cristina AU - Guasti, Leonardo PY - 2019 M3 - Review TI - Stem Cells, Self-Renewal, and Lineage Commitment in the Endocrine System JO - Frontiers in Endocrinology UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2019.00772 VL - 10 SN - 1664-2392 N2 - The endocrine system coordinates a wide array of body functions mainly through secretion of hormones and their actions on target tissues. Over the last decades, a collective effort between developmental biologists, geneticists, and stem cell biologists has generated a wealth of knowledge related to the contribution of stem/progenitor cells to both organogenesis and self-renewal of endocrine organs. This review provides an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the role of tissue stem cells in the development and self-renewal of endocrine organs. Pathways governing crucial steps in both development and stemness maintenance, and that are known to be frequently altered in a wide array of endocrine disorders, including cancer, are also described. Crucially, this plethora of information is being channeled into the development of potential new cell-based treatment modalities for endocrine-related illnesses, some of which have made it through clinical trials. ER -