Targeting Cancer Related Stem Cells And Avoiding Healthy Cells

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is looking into the unique properties of stem cells that both cause normal blood cells to develop, and that also may cause leukemia.

Stem cell and cancer researchers are now saying that there is in fact a big different between normal stem cells and the stem cells that develop into leukemia. Experiments using mice are showing that the stem cells that develop into leukemia can be killed by rapamycin, a drug has received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

Sean J. Morrison, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute who led the research stated "Our study demonstrates that it's possible to identify mechanistic differences between normal stem cells and cancer stem cells, and that the differences can be exploited therapeutically."

Finding these differences between cancer cells and normal cells has long been the most important goal of cancer research. Morrison stated that finding some vulnerability within the mechanism that triggers cancer development will enable scientists to kill cancer cells while avoiding damaging cells and processes involved in normal functions. An example here would be avoiding damaging bone marrow cells.

This kind of research allows for the development of anti-cancer therapies that not only more effective but also significantly less side-effects to normal tissues.