New Cancer Stem Cell Identified - A Potential Metastatic Disease Target?

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 16 Jul 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College have identified a type of cancer stem cell that might initiate metastatic cancer, which spreads beyond the original, primary tumor site and to other locations within the body. For the first time, scientists have revealed that the molecular profiles of these cancer stem cells are much different than those located in primary tumors. The study's senior author Dr. Shahin Rafii -- the Arthur B. Belfer Professor in Genetic Medicine and director of the Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics at Weill Cornell and a noted investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute -- believes that these findings pave the way for research into a new subset of metastatic cancer stem cells, previously unidentified.

It has long been thought that a protein called CD133 is produced by all cancer stem cells, which are responsible for the creation and maintenance of tumors. But now, the research team found that certain metastatic stem cells (CD133-negative) do not produce this well-known protein. The scientists studied colon cancer cells within a mouse model to make their observations. Moving forward, the findings may spur research to identify new biomarkers, specific to metastatic cancer stem cells, which may lead to the development of drugs that target metastatic cancer. The study's results were released as a special "highlighted" article in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances -- from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth, and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally-conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian, which is ranked sixth on the U.S.News & World Report list of top hospitals, also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree oversees and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar. For more information, visit http://www.nyp.org and http://www.med.cornell.edu.

To read Science Briefs on the Web, please visit: http://med.cornell.edu/science.

Weill Cornell Medical College