Cancer "Stem Cells" Confirmed

The existence of cancer "stem cells" has been reported before, but due to unreliable testing methods it has never been scientifically confirmed.

In a recent study, conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and Swedish researchers, malignant bone marrow cells of participants who suffer from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were extracted. MDS is a disease that often develops into leukemia.
The growth of the extracted cells was monitored by the researchers and using genetic tools they were able to identify a rare subset of the malignant cells that sat atop the cell hierarchy. These cells encouraged other cells to mutate and form cancer and in contrast to other mutated cells they were able sustain themselves. In short, without these cancer stem cells, the other cancer cells could not survive.

This discovery offers the prospect of new cancer therapies that target the cancer stem cells exclusively. Dr Petter Woll, the first author of the study, compared the process to tending a garden: "It's like having dandelions in your lawn. You can pull out as many as you want, but if you don't get the roots they'll come back."

However, the development of a therapy that specifically targets cancer stem cells will take a lot of time. Now that researchers have found a way to identify the stem cells, they can begin to study how they actually function. Only then the development of a drug or other form of therapy can start which will also have to go through clinical trials before it can be approved for general use. Dr Woll also cautions that the stem cells of other cancer types are likely to look and function differently from the MDS cancer cells and therefore require additional research.

Sources:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-05-16-genetic-tracking-identifies-cancer-stem-cells-patients
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/mutations-cancer-%E2%80%98stem-cells%E2%80%99-tracked-first-time
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610814001342