Cancer stem cells made, not born: Experiments and modeling reveal how tumors maintain cellular balance
Thursday, August 18, 2011 - 21:30
in Health & Medicine
In cancer, tumors aren't uniform, but instead are like complex societies, each with a unique balance of cell types. A common theory is that these societies are hierarchical, with all cancer cells descending from special, self-renewing cancer stem cells. New findings, however, point to a more decentralized society, in which cancer cells interconvert between different types. These results suggest that attacking cancer stem cells alone may not be enough to fight cancer.