Researchers find adult stem cell characteristics in aggressive cancers from different tissues

UCLA researchers have discovered  genetic similarities between the adult stem cells responsible for maintaining and repairing epithelial tissues — which line all of the organs and cavities inside the body — and the cells that drive aggressive epithelial cancers. Their findings could bring about a better understanding of how ag gressive, treatment-resistant cancers develop and progress, and could eventually lead to new drugs for a range of advanced epithelial cancers such as lung, prostate and bladder cancers. The study, led by senior authors Owen Witte and Thomas Graeber, both of the  UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, was published in the  journal Cell Reports.Epithelial cancers account for 80 to 90 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the United States, according to theNational Cancer Institute. Almost every type of epithelial cancer can develop into a highly aggressive form that metastasizes, or spreads rapidly to other organs in the body, and resists standard-of-care treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.As part of a new and promising approach to cancer research, scientists are now seeking to uncover commonalities among these aggressive epithelial cancers in order to inform the development of “pan-cancer” therapies, those that can treat a range of cancers originating in different tissues.“Pinpointing the molecular and genetic features common among multiple cance...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news