Abstract: Nodal, a member of TGF-beta family, plays an important role in maintaining pluripotency of human stem cells, and inducing development of embryonic tissues. In recent years, the Nodal signal pathway was also a key in the in vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Nodal could be involved in the mechanism of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer and other tumors. It provided us reliable theoretical basis on the development of human embryo and tumorigenesis to explore the role of Nodal pathway in human embryonic stem cell.

Key words: Embryonic stem cells, Germ layers, Germ cells, Neoplasms, Nodal