Researchers at UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center of
Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have made another breakthrough in
the fight against prostate cancer. They found that two types of malignant
prostate cancer cells can develop in one type of stem cell; thus, making
prostate cancer stem cells a “moving target” for treatments. The researchers
note that the finding could lead to new and improved treatments that can target
prostate cancer cells. They published their findings online on November 26 in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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| Stem Cell (Cancer Cell) |
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Adult stem cells are regenerative cells that replace
diseased or damaged cells in organs. The researchers previously reported that
prostate cancer can originate in basal type stem cells. The new study, based on
that research, showed that tumors can start in basal stem cells that evolve to
luminal cells that result in aggressive spread of the cancer and that these
luminal cells can change in their characteristics over time; thus, making them
resistant to treatment.
Study author Dr. Andrew Goldstein explained, “People have
begun to think about cancers as being driven by stem cells in the same way that
many of our adult organs are maintained by dedicated stem cells. Based on this
new understanding, a lot of excitement surrounds the concept of going right to
the root of the tumor and targeting those stem cells to eradicate the cancer.”
Patients with aggressive prostate cancer are often treated
with anti-androgen (anti-male hormone) therapy; the basal stem cells that
develop into the cancer cells look different from the luminal cells that
maintain the aggressive disease. In addition, the tumor stem cells that are not
destroyed by the anti-androgen treatment look different from the previous two.
Because of this process, in order to develop an appropriate treatment, the
researchers must identify cell types that evolve as the disease and its
treatment develop. Now that the researchers have determined that prostate
cancer stem cells can change what their appearance, he investigators are now
searching for possible elements that are consistent within the stem cells and
do not change through stem cell evolution.
They are of the opinion that this
knowledge will help develop drugs that target the evolving cancer stem cells.
Thus , they are now attempting to detect some of the factors that define a stem
cell regardless of its external appearance. They stress that it is extremely
important to understand the continual evolution of the stem cell’s physical
appearance, particularly as tumors adapt to become resistant to new and more
potent therapies.
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| Prostate Cancer Treatment |
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