( Researchers at the University of Michig...)Scientists identify pancreatic cancer stem cells

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."

While such a drug has not been developed, ongoing research suggests it is possible to do so, she added.

The study also advances the emerging notion that stem cells may lie at the heart of some, if not all, cancers, Simeone said. That theory suggests that only cells that have the properties of "stemness" -- that is, cells that can self-renew and differentiate into other types of cells -- are the only ones capable of producing tumors. These "cancer stem cells," could derive from normal adult stem cells i
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Source:American Association for Cancer Research