Scientists Identify And Repress Breast Cancer Stem Cells In Mouse Tissue

December 24, 2007 | Source: Science Daily

By manipulating highly specific gene-regulating molecules called microRNAs, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have succeeded in singling out and repressing stem-like cells in mouse breast tissue–cells that are widely thought to give rise to cancer.

No therapies currently exist that target stem-like tumor-initiating cells, whose existence in diverse tissues including breast, lung, brain and colon, as well as in the blood, has been demonstrated in a line of research stretching back to 2001.