Liver stem cells possible cure for liver cancer?
The liver is the only organ in the human body that can naturally regenerate. Regeneration was know to be the cause of naturally occurring stem cells in the liver. Liver cancer is one of the most lethal forms of cancer in humans and it is believed that 40% is caused by abnormal stem cell growth. These cells were recently identified by a research group at the Georgetown University Medical Center. The discovery was made when samples of patients who had recently undergone liver transplants expressed cells that displayed expression of Stat3, Oct4, Nanog, ELF, and receptor for the TGF-b protein. These proteins are all associated with know stem cell chains. The cells were very rare found four in every 30,000 to 60,000 cells but were displaying very high expression. These cells were also discovered in the liver of cancer patients. In cancer patients the cells were expressing constantly because of the loss TGF-b.
These discoveries lead to experiments in lab mice who had the stat3 gene removed. Preventing the stat3 gene from being passed on to the next generation yielded experiment results displaying only 1 in 40 mice developed liver cancer. Mice with the stat3 gene displayed a 70% chance of developing liver cancer. Georgetown is now starting a new set of testing with an experimental stat3 inhibitor drug created by the National Cancer Institute. The drug simply blocks the expression of stat3 cells in the liver without removing the gene.
If this drug is capable of regulating stat3 expression in the liver it could be a possible cure for liver cancer. The stat3 inhibitor has been tested and the results indicate that the drug has little toxicity. If testing in the lab mice is successful the drug will continue on to further experiments that will justify its use to cure cancer in humans. This information was published in February of 2008 and is still in early phases of the experiment. The results of these experiments if successful could lead to the very first cure for any form of cancer
Posted by John Reilly
posted by PWH @ 4:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
It would be interesting to see how the drug could treat cancers in the liver that aren't attributed to abnormal stem cell growth. For example, liver cancers may be caused by excessive drinking or spontaneous mutations in normal cells. Once the cells are cancerous, could the drug help them all? Of course the answer to this question is most likely unattainable at this point, but it is an interesting thing to think about.
Posted by: Nate Pitcher
it's great to think that we may be close to a cure for liver cancer! Has any of the research shown that the new drugs may cause problems in other parts of the body? Or is this gene only expressed in the liver?
Posted by: Nicole Eckart
This comment has been removed by the author.
This was a good blog post. It's very interesting to think that they could be on the verge of a cure for at least one kind of cancer. I wonder since 40% originate from problems with stem cells, would this treatement be able to help the other 60% of causes?
Post By: Meaghan Elliott
One of my cousin died last week, kidney cancer it was. He was 21 year.
Sometime ago when i just started knowing about cancer. Whenever someone explained cancer, they applied it to a specific area say the leg, kidney, liver, brain whatever it was. i used to think, why not just removed the whole organ but again if it's the brain, you have to remove the brain, that is ridiculous. All this i wasnt thinking that there are other organs attached to that single infected one. So if science has managed to think beyong my direct approach of the cancer situation, then lets hope for the best and find a cure so that people dont have to lose their lungs because they have lung cancer or their brain because they have a brain tumor.
Posted by: Mutapher Lubega
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