Scientists Discover "Mother Cells" Of Cancer
Researchers at Oxford University believe that they have discovered the “mother cells” which produce cancer tumors and allow them to grow. The discovery was made by researchers at Oxford who were studying patients with leukemia. These “mother cells,” or cancer stem cells, are believed to be the reason that cancer cells can spread throughout the body and ultimately cause the death of those suffering from cancer. Cancer stem cells are resistant to traditional cancer treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is why even after successful cancer treatments, cancers can come back to afflict patients. Cancers originate in these stem cells, and researchers believe that if these cancer stem cells can be destroyed, then the disease can also potentially be eliminated.
Dr. Petter Woll, a research at Oxford University, says that this discovery is a key step on the pathway to the disease’s cure. “We have identified a subset of cancer cells, shown that these cells are invariably the cells in which the cancer originates and are also the only cancer-propagating cells in the patients. It is a vitally important step because it suggests that if you want to cure patients, you would need to target and remove these cells at the root of the cancer.”
Woll says that the next step for the researchers is to figure out the biology of the cancer stem cells in the patient group studied in the Oxford University research, which could lead to a potential therapy to eliminate the cells.
Although the researchers only studied one form of cancer — leukemia — they believe that the cancer stem cell principle applies to all other forms of cancer.
Kamil Kranc, a Cancer Research UK stem cell expert, also spoke about the research. “Cancer stem cells have long been thought to be at the heart of many types of cancers but identifying these rogue cells has been a major challenge,” he said. “The next step will be to find specific drugs that eliminate these unique cells, which could be key to helping more people survive cancer.”