Reprogramming Cancer Cells into Normal Somatic Cells

Cell reprogramming involves changing the expression of top-level regulatory genes, picking targets that will radically change cell form and function. Given a suitable recipe, many of which have been established, forms of cell reprogramming can be used to change somatic cells into stem cells, or change somatic cells of one type into somatic cells of another type. In the other direction, numerous approaches can be used to guide stem cells into differentiating into varieties of somatic cell. A cancerous cell adopts some of the characteristics of a stem cell, primarily the unrestricted replication that is the hallmark of cancer, and sometimes some of the characteristics of other somatic cell types. Cancer stem cells are thought to exist for many forms of cancer, a class of cancerous cell in which stem cell characteristics are much more prevalent. Cancer stem cells support a cancer and its growth in much the same way that normal stem cells support a tissue. Given all of this, it seems reasonable to suppose that it is possible to reprogram or otherwise guide a cancer cell into becoming a normal somatic cell. This could be an interesting basis for a cancer therapy, with all the usual caveats about whether or not the reprogramming therapy is inherently targeted to the cancer, or whether it would need to be delivered carefully to avoid side-effects in non-cancerous tissue. Today's open access paper offers an example of a form of reprogramming that turns one specific type...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs