Tumor Time Bombs Set Off by Stem Cells

Scientific American ^ | January 11, 2008 | JR Minkel

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Researchers say they have identified a switch that makes dormant breast cancer cells that have traveled to the lungs swell to lethal proportions—completing the dreaded process of metastasis or cancer spread. A team from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y., reports that it staved off full-blown metastasis in mice by preventing mini-tumors in the lungs from recruiting stem cells called endothelial progenitors, which assemble into blood vessels to nourish the malignancy.

Researchers do not know if the same thing would work for other types of cancer or cancer cells lodged in other body organs. Still, they hope to discover drugs that could put the brakes on at least some metastases by short-circuiting the ability of endothelial progenitors to respond to chemical cues sent out by tumors.

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New York State Supports Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Expansion and Stem-cell Research

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"They're sleeping and suddenly they wake up, and that's very dangerous," says Cold Spring cancer biologist Vivek Mittal. Metastatic cancer is rarely curable.

Vivek Mittal

Our interests are to understand the contribution and role of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells in tumor growth and metastasis, and to determine the therapeutic potential of targeting these cells as an anti-cancer approach.

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