Post from the MMA list re stem cell theory 

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:45:22 +0000
From: thecookandbaker@comcast.net
Subject: [MMA] Research Article Suggests More Emphasis Needed to
    Eliminate    CA Stem Cells -Addition
To: mma@lists.mmsupport.net (List Myeloma)
Message-ID:
    <110220071545.9454.472B4612000993E9000024EE22165258069D0A050E0D0B020E0501010C0A089B@comcast.net>
    

(For some reason the introductory paragraph below was deleted on the prior message.  It is not that important but it does "introduce" the research article.)

Here is a new research article that strongly supports the need to develop agents
to target cancer stem cells in addition to targeting the differentiated cancer
cells (cells that have moved beyond the cancer stem cell phase).  Belief in the
existence of cancer stem cells has moved forward slowly in the greater medical
community but there seems to be more widespread belief in their existence now.

Carole

Information provided under fair use guidelines:

Cancer Stem Cells: An Old IdeaËœA Paradigm Shift
Max S. Wicha, Suling Liu and Gabriela Dontu
University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Although the concept that cancers arise from "stem cells" or "germ cells" was
first proposed about 150 years ago, it is only recently that advances in stem
cell biology have given new impetus to the "cancer stem cell hypothesis."

Two important related concepts of this hypothesis are that (a) tumors originate
in either tissue stem cells or their immediate progeny through dysregulation of the normally tightly regulated process of self-renewal. As a result of this,
(b) tumors contain a cellular subcomponent that retains key stem cell
properties. These properties include self-renewal, which drives tumorigenesis,
and differentiation albeit aberrant that contributes to cellular heterogeneity.

Recent experimental evidence in a variety of tumors has lent strong support to
the cancer stem cell hypothesis that represents a paradigm shift in our
understanding of carcinogenesis and tumor cell biology. This hypothesis has
fundamental implications for cancer risk assessment, early detection,
prognostication, and prevention.

Furthermore, the current development of cancer therapeutics based on tumor
regression may have produced agents that kill differentiated tumor cells while
sparing the rare cancer stem cell population.

The development of more effective cancer therapies may thus require targeting
this important cell population. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(4): 1883-90)