In an era of targeted cancer therapies, laboratory scientists working with mice may have found the ultimate target – a reservoir of stem cells that drive cancers to grow and metastasize.
Separate reports in the journals Science and Nature document the presence of cancer stem cells in intestinal adenomas (Science 2012 Aug. 1 [doi:10.1126/science.1224676]), squamous skin cancer, (Nature 2012 Aug. 1 [doi:10.1038/nature11344]), and glioblastoma multiforme (Nature 2012 Aug. 1 [doi:10.1038/nature11287]).
In the last study, mice with these highly lethal brain tumors were given temozolomide (Temodar), an approved treatment in humans, along with ganciclovir, an antiviral. Despite a transient therapeutic response to chemotherapy, the cancers continued to grow, driven by "a relatively quiescent subset of endogenous glioma cells, with properties similar to those proposed for cancer stem cells," the authors wrote.
Whether these reports will resolve controversy over the existence of stem cells or lead to clinically meaningful treatments remains to be seen. There is no doubt, however, that they will lead to further investigation.