hope you can access the full article--notch inhibitors, breast cancer stem cells

[Lani]

Journal of the National Cancer Institute Advance Access published online on August 28, 2007
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, doi:10.1093/jnci/djm148

© Oxford University Press 2007.
NEWS


ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT?

Notch Emerges as New Cancer Drug Target

Ken Garber
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A metaphor for cancer is normal development gone awry. All tissues in the body arise from embryonic stem cells that gradually give rise to specialized cells. Cancer resembles a case of arrested development because less differentiated tumors are almost always the most aggressive. So it's no surprise that genes regulating normal fetal and childhood development have been implicated in adult cancer. The question now: If a gene regulating development can cause cancer, can blocking that gene eradicate the tumor?

One such gene is Notch. First described almost a century ago, Notch has become the object of intense study in cancer. Evidence is growing that Notch signaling can drive the growth of a wide range of tumors, from leukemia to breast cancer. At least two cancer clinical trials are under way using Notch inhibitors, and several others are pending. "This is an exploding field," says Lucio Miele, M.D., Ph.D., a cancer . . . [Full Text of this Article]