PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical Center have, for the first time, identified human pancreatic cancer stem cells. Their work indicates that these cells are likely responsible for the aggressive tumor growth, progression, and metastasis that define this deadly cancer.
In the February 1 issue of Cancer Research, the researchers demonstrate that only 100 of these stem cells are needed to produce human pancreatic cancer in half of mice tested. They also found these cells are at least 100 times more tumorigenic than cancer cells that did not have one of three protein markers they believe to be associated with pancreatic cancer stem cells.
The findings could help advance development of new therapies for this cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of only three percent -- the worst prognosis of any major cancer, said the study's lead author, Diane M. Simeone, M.D., an associate professor of surgery and molecular and integrative physiology.
"The cells we isolated are quite different from 99 percent of the millions of other cells in a human pancreatic tumor, and we think that, based on some preliminary research, standard treatments like chemotherapy and radiation may not be touching these cells," said Simeone. "If that is why pancreatic cancer is so hard to treat, a new approach might be to design a drug that specifically targets pancreatic cancer stem cells without interfering with normal stem cell function."
Today, we lost the great Pavoratti to pancreatic cancer. Daily Kos went over his accomplishments and the affects of the disease. People kept saying that stem cell research could lead to some cure and that the death might spur more interest in research. I wasn't quite up to speed on what stem cells could do to work in this case. Well, the article above gives some good ideas about how that might work.
Tags: Pavoratti, pancreatic cancer, stem cells, University of Michigan Medical Center, Cancer ResearchPowered by Qumana
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