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Characterization of human embryonic stem cells with features of neoplastic progression

BTTT

ROFL

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

cool.

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

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.

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.

BTTT