( ls have been identified in several othe...)Stem Cell Marker Identified in Head and Neck Cancer,Health

ls have been identified in several other cancer types, including breast, brain, central nervous system and colon cancers, as well as leukemia. U-M researchers in 2003 were the first to report the existence of stem cells in a solid tumor, finding them in breast cancer. CD44 was also found to play a role in breast cancer stem cells.

'We know CD44 is important in breast cancer and now in head and neck cancer, so it might be important in other cancer types. This work gives more evidence that the cancer stem cell theory is valid,' Prince says.

That theory suggests that a small subpopulation of cancer cells are the critical cells in cancer growth and progression, and the key to treating it is to kill the stem cells. It’s a radically different model than current treatment approaches, which are designed to shrink the tumor by killing as many cells as possible. Researchers suspect cancer recurs because the treatments are not killing the stem cells.

The current finding in head and neck tumors does not pinpoint the exact stem cells, the researchers believe, but rather narrows down the field. The percent of cells within a tumor expressing CD44 varied from one sample to the next, with one sample composed of as high as 40 percent of these cells. Studies in other cancer types have found the stem cell population to be smaller than 5 percent.

'The CD44-positive cells contain the tumorigenic cells, but we don’t think that’s a pure population of cancer stem cells. We still need to drill down further to find the subpopulation of those cells that is the pure version,' Prince says.

Source-Newswise'"/>




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