More On Cancer Stem Cells
The LEF News is reprinting an article on cancer stem cells and current attempts to build new and better cancer therapies. "The solution would lie in stamping out the highly specialized cells, known as cancer stem cells, that appear to give rise to the cancer in the first place. Such cells are largely impervious to current treatments, enabling them to lurk silently until they repeatedly spawn new tumors, either in the same part or in other parts of the body." At least some types of cancer appear to have identifiable stem cells, and trials are underway for leukemia patients at the University of Kentucky. From the researchers: "It looks fantastic in the lab. In the laboratory we can very effectively kill the tumor without killing the normal stem cells."
Link: http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=1010&Section=DISEASE