Scientists can now differentiate between healthy cells and cancer cells

McMaster University via biologynews.net ^ | January 5, 2009 | NA

[neverdem]

One of the current handicaps of cancer treatments is the difficulty of aiming these treatments at destroying malignant cells without killing healthy cells in the process. But a new study by McMaster University researchers has provided insight into how scientists might develop therapies and drugs that more carefully target cancer, while sparing normal healthy cells

Mick Bhatia, scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and his team of investigators have demonstrated – for the first time – the difference between normal stem cells and cancer stem cells in humans.

The discovery, published in the prestigious journal Nature Biotechnology today, could eventually help with the further customization and targeting of cancer treatments for the individual patient. It will immediately provide a model to discover drugs using robotic screening for available molecules that may have untapped potential to eradicate cancer.

"Normal stem cells and cancer stem cells are hard to tell apart, and many have misconstrued really good stem cells for cancer stem cells that have gone bad - we now can tell the ones masquerading as normal stem cells from the bad, cancerous ones," said Bhatia.

"This also allows us to compare normal versus cancer stem cells from humans in the laboratory - define the differences in terms of genes they express and drugs they respond to. Essentially, we can now use this to find the "magic bullet", a drug or set of drugs that kill cancer stem cells first, and spare the normal healthy ones," he said.

"McMaster is uniquely positioned for this discovery platform, and this was the missing ingredient - we have one of the best screening/robotic platforms, chemical libraries and expertise in professors Eric Brown and Gerry Wright, who have discovered molecules to combat infectious disease. Now we can combine it all. This team now aims to kill cancer."

Source : McMaster University

[neverdem]

Characterization of human embryonic stem cells with features of neoplastic progression

[Jet Jaguar]

BTTT

[Ancient Drive]

ROFL

[TChad]

Might be a big deal. The article is available here, but unfortunately it costs $32.

[Irish Eyes]

Why do you laugh at this ?

[GOP Poet]

cool.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

 

Mick Bhatia, scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. Photo by JD Howell.
 

Mickie Bhatia
Professor Ph.D. (Guelph)
Office: Phone: Fax: E-mail:	MDCL-5029 (905) 525-9140, x28687 (905) 522-7772 mbhatia@mcmaster.ca
Unraveling the Molecular Nature of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Dr. Mickie Bhatia is a recognized leader in Canada in the field of human hematopoietic stem cell biology and embryonic stem cells. Discovery in the past decade of the potential of human stem cells to generate new cells has shifted fundamental understandings of cellular and developmental biology. Dr. Bhatia has made several important advancements in human stem cell research, particularly related to blood forming stem cells. Although he believes stem cells can serve as sources for cellular and organ replacement in tissue damaged by trauma or genetic influences, and for disease intervention, he will focus on human cancer, and using human stem cells to understand how cancer begins and how treatment may be revolutionized based on this new knowledge. Dr. Bhatia recently joined McMaster University to take up the position of Scientific Director of the newly created Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Research Institute housed within the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery. He has been appointed as the Chair in Stem Cell and Cancer Biology and is a full Professor within the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences. Prior to his arrival at McMaster University in January 2006 he held the position of Director of the Krembil Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Robarts Research Institute. During his tenure there he held a prestigious Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology and was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Western Ontario. As a highly respected scientist, his work has been published in high-ranking journals including Nature Medicine, Nature Bioctechnology, PNAS, Developmental Cell and Immunity in the past 2-3 years. Dr. Bhatia's research program sets out to understand the molecular mechanisms, which orchestrate somatic and embryonic human stem cell development. His laboratory can be subdivided into three themes of interest and, although each is unique in itself, they all possess complementary overlap to allow for an enhanced understanding of the overall nature of novel human stem cell populations, and the basis of human cell fate decisions and cellular programming, and how these may relate to rare cancer initiating cells in the human: 1) Characterization of molecular pathways regulating human hematopoietic and embryonic stem cells including Notch, Sonic Hedgehog,Bone Morphogenetic Proteins and,human Wingless homologs involved in Wnt signaling transduction. These pathways are linked to the uncontrolled growth of tissue initiated by purified stem cells and are important to our understanding of human cellular transformation. 2) Identification of target genes regulated by mesodermal factors and genes involved in controlling self-renewal and differentiation of primary human blood stem cells based on differential expression and ontogenic mechanisms. 3) Creation of novel in vivo models for cellular/tissue regeneration through transplantation of human stem cells.

http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/biochem/dir/fac/Department_faculty_bhatiaHP.htm

 

[Between the Lines]

I thought the title was funny myself.

[neverdem]

This is a weird press release. There’s no mention of stem cells in the title. It doesn’t say what kind of stem cells. Maybe they didn’t want to name them.

[Lexinom]

We've been able to detect markers for years. For example, a cytonuclear buildup of P53 protein is common in squamous cell lung cancers (SCC). A problem in targeting is differentiating between normal and abnormal levels of the marker. In all cancers, the apoptotic function in the cells' DNA is disabled, hence tumor growth and eventual metastasis.

"This also allows us to compare normal versus cancer stem cells from humans in the laboratory - define the differences in terms of genes they express and drugs they respond to. Essentially, we can now use this to find the "magic bullet", a drug or set of drugs that kill cancer stem cells first, and spare the normal healthy ones," he said.

I'd be wary of this statement, and definitely lean toward the "set of drugs" side of the spectrum, given that "cancer" is actually thousands of diseases with thousands of different mutations possible within even a single type of cancer, like SCC.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the post & link.

[Ancient Drive]

there’s just something funny about the title... you know.. scientists can now distinguish good cells from bad ones.

[Lexinom]

It depends on the cancer. Well-differentiated (meaning the cell is "well-differentiated" from its stem-cell plenotype and thus a lot like a normal cell) cancers can be difficult to distinguish tumor from normal cells, but then these also tend to be the slow-growing kinds. Undifferentiated cells are easy to detect under electron microscopy - and these are of the fast, aggressive cancers. They are also the easiest to kill with systemic treatment (chemo) but the most likely to recur.

I think the author, though, is referring to targeting rather than observation.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

This is a weird press release. There’s no mention of stem cells in the title. It doesn’t say what kind of stem cells. Maybe they didn’t want to name them.

i read the article. From what i was able to tell, embryonic stem cells are NOT the concern of the research, rather, it is the patient's own stem cells. It deals with differentiating the patient's healthy stem cells from the cancerous stem cells, and eradicates the latter.

No ethical concerns here.

[neverdem]

i read the article. From what i was able to tell, embryonic stem cells are NOT the concern of the research, rather, it is the patient's own stem cells. It deals with differentiating the patient's healthy stem cells from the cancerous stem cells, and eradicates the latter.

Did you read comment# 1? It had the title of the Nature Biotechnology article: "Characterization of human embryonic stem cells with features of neoplastic progression"

No ethical concerns here.

Really? I'm not so sure about that. I'd be happily surprised to learn that human embryonic stem cells can be characterized with using destructive techniques.

[neverdem]

Correction, it should have been: "Really? I'm not so sure about that. I'd be happily surprised to learn that human embryonic stem cells can be characterized without using destructive techniques.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

BTTT