Scientists discover first compound that specifically kills cancer stem cells

Scientists discover first compound that specifically kills cancer stem cells

info.cancerresearchuk.org

US scientists have discovered a compound that targets and destroys cancer stem cells, a type of rare cell that some scientists believe are responsible for driving tumour growth, and that appear to be resistant to existing anti-cancer therapies.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Broad Institute used a new "high-throughput" screening method that allowed them to test thousands of compounds and identify those that killed cancer stem cells.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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According to Dr Kat Arney, senior science information officer, Cancer Research UK:

*This is an important piece of research, as it reveals a way to test for chemicals that can act on stem cells, as well as highlighting a potential new cancer drug."

The idea of targeting cancer stem cells is encouraging, as this catches the disease before tumours are able to grow.

With possible combination with other treatments this could be huge, IF it goes the distance of course.

info.cancerresearchuk.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

I wonder how long it would take for this kind of treatment to "go the distance"
I do agree that this could be a major breakthrough but it still seems to be in early testing stages so i wouldnt get to excited about the prospect yet.

reply to post by kiwifoot


The question is....

Can smokers smoke this?

When will he be killed like all the others ?

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Haha



im sure some would give it a try

en.wikipedia.org...

Doesnt look like it plays nice with the human body. They will have to find a way to use small amounts. Tends to make people pretty sick from the looks of it.

This may be totally off topic and I am sorry for that, but......

I wonder if cancer stem-cells could be used for cell/organ re-growth.

Furthermore, since it tends to grow very fast, that could be another key in re-growing organs and such.

Just my 2 cents.

If it is promising research, that can be tested on Humans and proven effective...we may see it being sold by Big Pharma in ten or fifteen years.

reply to post by Oatmeal


If people woke up to the one true cause of why the human body fails to regenerate damaged cells correctly, big pharma would become obsolete...

reply to post by NuclearPaul

If people woke up to the one true cause of why the human body fails to regenerate damaged cells correctly, big pharma would become obsolete...

I would be interested to know what the "one true cause" might be. Perhaps you could enlighten us to this "fact". Either way Big Pharma would probably squash this information, as they will always make their money.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
This may be totally off topic and I am sorry for that, but......

I wonder if cancer stem-cells could be used for cell/organ re-growth.

Furthermore, since it tends to grow very fast, that could be another key in re-growing organs and such.

Just my 2 cents.

I know what you mean hete, if they can totally understand the processes of cancer cell multiplication, they could apply it to organ regeneration, I'm sure one day it will happen!

Just found this from Reuters, will add it to the thread.

Drug compound kills breast cancer stem cells

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have discovered a compound that can kill breast cancer stem cells, a kind of master cancer cell that resists conventional treatment and may explain why many cancers grow back, they reported on Thursday.

The discovery came using a new method of screening for drugs that specifically target and kill cancer stem cells, and it could be used to find drugs targeting other cancer stem cells as well, they said.

Many teams have been looking for ways to destroy these master cancer cells in hopes of making cancer easier to cure.

"There is a lot of evidence to suggest now that these cells are responsible for many of the recurrences that are observed after treatment has stopped," Piyush Gupta of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Broad Institute, whose study appears in the journal Cell, said in a telephone interview on Thursday.