Comments on: Complexity of cancer stem cells

By: Dr M.Chandrashekhar

Dr M.Chandrashekhar — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:19:46 +0000

Alex,

Excellent Posts on Cancer Stem Cell dilemma. Yes– we have come back to where we have started , but , we have become far wiser.

Keep us updated.

Thanks,

MCS

By: » Lecture: Sean Morrison - Stem cell and cancer Hematopoiesis: Blood Stem Cell & Lineages

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:36:11 +0000

[...] talk at University of Pennsylvania. Research in his lab made me think for the first time about complexity of cancer stem cell concept. For me he is an example of how real basic science should be [...]

By: » Possible anti- cancer stem cell effects of well known drugs Hematopoiesis: Blood Stem Cell & Lineages

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:30:59 +0000

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By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 09 May 2009 03:42:53 +0000

to Lei -
to complement your thought about getting back to the start point, Kornelia Polyak citation again:

Thus, essentially we are back to where we were and what we knew for decades: tumors are diverse, genetically unstable, and evolve due to the intra-tumoral diversity of cellular genotypes and phenotype

but I don’t think we’re back to the start point, I think we got to know much more about cancer development after CSC concept was proposed and developed.
This review actually showed how CSC concept could be extension of clonal evolution concept.

Good point about interaction with microenvironment. That’s why targeting of potential cancer cell niche could be more successful then CSC themselves.

to Thomas -
controversies and misconception are not surprise. CSC still holds something, it’s dynamically changing and up datable

By: Thomas Ichim

Thomas Ichim — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:19:59 +0000

If the concept of the cancer stem cell holds water…which in my humble opinion it does…at least in some cases…then it threatens the very foundation of decades of in vitro experiment…so why should be be surprised that people say these things are so controversial?

By: Lei

Lei — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:58:57 +0000

A senior research (not in cancer research field for 2 decades) is surprised by the debate on cancer stem cell. To him, old-schooled definition of cancer is a population of “self-sustainable” cells. If it is the case, then we should treat all cancer cells as stem cells. And after years research and billions of input, we are back to the start point.
Also, Sean proposed that if the percentage of single cancer cell can repopulate an origin tumor is as high as 25%, then tumor reconstitution must be an outcome of interaction between cancer cell and its random environment(seed and soil) instead of some intrinsic epigenetic and/or expression profile change underlying.
Well, it’s super hard to target terrorists and eradicate them. They may look benign until they act up. So does cancer stem cells, or cancer cells.