A secret of tumor stem cell survival: Scientists make progress against a devastating cancer
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - 08:31
in Health & Medicine
Malignant glioma is generally a death sentence for patients. These tumors, which arise from non-neuronal cells within the brain, grow quickly and aggressively, and contain a core population of glioma stem cells (GSCs) that are largely invulnerable to the weapons typically brought to bear against other cancers. "GSCs display resistance to radiation due to increased activation of DNA damage repair pathways, and also possess intrinsic resistance mechanisms against chemotherapy-induced cell death," explains Prabha Sampath of the A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology.