Source: University of Florida
Date: May 23, 2007
Summary:
Call it the cellular equivalent of big glasses, a funny nose and a fake mustache. Bone marrow stem cells attracted to the site of a cancerous growth frequently take on the outward appearance of the malignant cells around them, University of Florida researchers report in a paper to be published in the August issue of Stem Cells.
But whether that enables them to fuel cancer’s ability to develop and then spread, as some scientists suspect, is not entirely clear. The findings, available early in this month’s online edition of the journal, actually contest the increasingly popular theory that bone marrow stem cells seed cancer. Instead, these cells might simply look like cancer, not act like it.
