Cancer Recurrence Research
Friday, October 5, 2007
The tumor grows back, despite post-surgery radiation and chemotherapy.
Researchers have identified a new reason for such recurrences: cancer stem cells.
Like regular stem cells, lauded for their role in regulating the body and their potential to become cures for diseases, cancer stem cells can self-renew and morph into many types of cells, scientists say.
But instead of giving people a steady supply of blood, skin or vital organ tissue, they propagate cancer growth, a growing body of research suggests.The theory, studied by Kuo and other researchers at UW-Madison and elsewhere, could explain why tumors often return after being nearly wiped out by cancer treatments.
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“We’re leaving the seeds of tumors behind,” Kuo said.
He invokes warfare imagery when describing the limitations of today’s cancer therapies.
“We’re trying to attack the whole country of the enemy, but we’re missing the command and control structures,” he said.
First identified in leukemia a decade ago, cancer stem cells have since been found in brain, bone and other cancers. It’s not clear how the cells arise, but they may take shape when regular stem cells acquire certain DNA mutations, Kuo said.
If more research better defines cancer stem cells, new drugs might be developed to target and kill the cells, said Caroline Alexander, a UW-Madison researcher who studies the cells in breast cancer.
The theory also could lead to a radically new way of measuring the success of cancer therapy.
Instead of assessing how much of a tumor has been destroyed, doctors might try to find out how many cancer stem cells remain.
“If this is true, it will revolutionize oncology,” Alexander said.
But much work remains to be done, she said. “It’s a good idea still waiting to be demonstrated.“
They're studying if the cancer stem cells express different genes and signals in response to the treatments. Such markers could be targets for new drugs. Studies are going on to find out, why these cells are less sensitive to radiation and chemotherapy than the tumor they came from.
nice piece of info...