Stem cells used to model infant birth defect

Hemangiomas -- strawberry-like birthmarks that commonly develop in early infancy - are generally harmless, but up to 10 percent cause tissue distortion or destruction and sometimes obstruction of vision or breathing. Since the 1960s, problematic hemangiomas have been treated with corticosteroids such as dexamethasone or prednisone. But steroids have considerable side effects, don't always work, and their mechanism of action in hemangioma has remained a mystery. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston recently discovered that infantile hemangiomas originate from stem cells, and have used these stem cells to better understand this tumor in the laboratory.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg