Recently, the human SVZ has been characterized in brain tumor patients at phenotypic and genetic level. These data reveal that in half of the patients the SVZ is an exact site of tumorigenesis whereas in the remaining patients it represents an infiltrated region. Thus, it is distinctly possible that in humans a relationship exists between the NSC generation of the region and the consistently self-renewing cells of primary tumors that give way to secondary tumors once removed or irradiated.
