Embryonic stem cells make cancer-fighting cells

[C1ay]

For the first time, stem cell researchers at the University of Minnesota have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to create cancer-killing cells in the laboratory, paving the way for future treatments for various types of cancers (or tumors). The research will be published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology.

 

lefthttp://hypography.com/gallery/files/9/9/8/cells_thumb.jpg[/img]Researchers generated "natural killer" cells from the human embryonic stem cells. As part of the immune system, natural killer cells normally are present in the bloodstream and play a role in defending the body against infection and against some cancers. The natural killer cells produced by the researchers were found capable of destroying certain human cancer cells in vitro (in the test tube).

 

"This is the first published research to show the ability to make cells from human embryonic stem cells that are able to treat and fight cancer, especially leukemias and lymphomas," says Dan Kaufman, assistant professor of medicine in the Stem Cell Institute and Department of Medicine and lead author of the study.

 

"We hear a lot about the potential of stem cells to treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease." Kaufman says. "This research suggests it is possible that we could use human embryonic stem cells as a source for immune cells that could better target and destroy cancer cells and potentially treat infections."

 

The results also provided the researchers with a model of how the immune system develops.

 

Next, the researchers will test whether the human embryonic stem cell-derived natural killer cells can target cancer cells in animal models.

 

This research was done on two of the federally approved embryonic stem cell lines. Kaufman says, however, that if the research continues to point to a treatment for people, new lines would have to be developed.

 

The National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Hematology funded this research.

 

Source: University of Minnesota

[IrishEyes]

What a great article, C1ay!

So the stem cells were used to treat and fight cancer, right? And last week, nemo was telling me about a vaccine for cervical cancer. This is just really cool.

I guess my only questions are about cancer. How many different varieties are there, and what makes them so different? How can a vaccine be developed for one type of cancer, but it doesn't work on others?

 

This is very groundbreaking stuff though. If they can create a vaccine to prevent cancers, and a process to treat and fight cancers, then it may be possible to eradicate cancers in the future, right? Or is that really taking the Sally-Sunshine approach?

[Bio-Hazard]

...but do they kill the good cells that aren't mutated? :)

If not, why not?

[GAHD]

Irish: cancer is pritty much any group of cells that malfunctions. Benign cancer is just flesh that does nothing, where other types multiply to the point where they interfear with homeostasis.

 

There is a wide variaty of cancers, easilly as many as types of tissu in the body. The problem isn't killing the cancer, it's keeping the healthy cells alive while you do it.

 

to Bio: From what I can tell, the stem cell approach deals mainly with creating a more primal immune-responce to whatever chemical identifiers there are in the particular cancer so it can be targeted.These so called 'natural killer' cells allready exist in our bodies, but whatever cancer has managed to form in the body isn't viewed by the immune system as a problem.