• Question: how can stem cells be used to stop cancer?

    Asked by drummerfrog to Tomasz, Matt, Dave, Aoife, Anzy on 12 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Aoife O'Shaughnessy-Kirwan

      Aoife O'Shaughnessy-Kirwan answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Hi drummerfrog,
      Actually cancer is probably not something we can tackle with stem cells. In fact cancer cells are sort of like stem cells in the way they behave. Cancer is really a disease of cell growth getting out of control so maybe we could use stem cells to try figure out what we can do to stop abnormal cell growth? What do you think?

    • Photo: David Christensen

      David Christensen answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Aoife is right that cancer cells are a lot like stem cells. Some scientists think that there are cells at the centre of cancers called cancer stem cells and these cells are the ones that start the cancer. If cancers start when normal cells become more like stem cells and then become cancerous, then we can use what we know about making stem cells differentiate to become other cell types, to treat the cancer cells.

      Also, some scientists have actually used stem cells to treat cancer. Nerve stem cells have been injected into brains of rodents that have brain tumours and those stem cells were actually able to shrink the tumours. This is pretty cool stuff, I think.

      Other scientists have actually used stem cells to make T cells, which are a type of white blood cell that controls the immune response. They could make T cells that would attack the cancer, so that injection into the patient would help fight cancer! I think using stem cells to help our immune systems fight the cancer within us seems like an incredibly useful way to stop cancer.

    • Photo: Matthew Tomlinson

      Matthew Tomlinson answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Just to add to Aoife and Dave’s points, there are some examples of adult stem cells being used to treat cancer, but it is quite controversial. Some people say that stem cells from the umbilical cord and umbilical cord blood can be used to slow down and in some cases stop cancer growth. Some people also think adult stem cells can be used to send cancer drugs to the tumour because they can avoid the immune system.

      However there are other people who found that some adult stem cells can increase cancer growth. It’s quite a confusing picture but I think it depends on the type of cell and also when you give the cells to the patient. Although I do think its an area where stem cells could be useful.

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