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news.Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have identified an inherent feature of stem and progenitor cells that may promote initiation and progression of cancerous tumors.
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Understanding the nature of cancer stem cells could result in new therapies that specifically target those cells which are thought to be the driving force of tumor progression.
In the study the team showed that stem and progenitor cells are susceptible to a specific error during cell division that can result in severe chromosomal defects. This susceptibility may explain how a tumor-initiating cell, also known as a cancer stem cell, arises from a normal cell. It may also explain how a cancer stem cell acquires additional mutations that increase tumor malignancy.
The researchers found that stem and progenitor cells are deficient in a checkpoint that confirms that the cell’s chromosomes have been disentangled before they are to be pulled apart in mitosis. The researchers think it likely that cancer stem cells, which closely resemble normal stem cells, have the same deficiency.
“The failure to untangle before dividing undoubtedly will lead to chromosomal defects,” said Dr Timothy Bestor, professor of genetics and development at Columbia University and the study’s principal investigator. “Surviving cells may end up with too many chromosomes, they may lose chromosomes, or some chromosomes may get rearranged.”
These same types of chromosomal defects are the hallmark of cancer cells, and there are chromosomal abnormalities in all types of cancer.
The research also points to potential obstacles involved with stem cell therapies. In the lab, stem cells are pushed to divide many times more than they normally would divide in an organism. The more stem cells divide, the more likely they are to acquire abnormal chromosome constitutions.