This was posted at BCSupport and thought that it was so important, that you should see it. This could explain alot of things, maybe they are on the right track!

The Science Journal portion of the Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on cancer stem cells. It appears that the way we treat breast cancer now by killing as many cancer cells as possible may leave in tact the real culprits, the Cancer Stem Cells.

"Dr. Clarke estimates that breast cancer stem cells make up as little as 3% to 5% of some tumors. That's the good news. Those are the only cells you have to kill to cure cancer, because non-stem cells eventually die off on their own. Even when non-stem cells spread, they don't pose much danger because they die after dividing a few times. The goal of current chemotherapy, to kill as many cells as possible, can probably be dialed
back."

note: Dr. Clark: " ... biologists led by Michael Clarke and Muhammad Al-Hajj of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found last year that
breast cancer consists of a few cancer-initiating cells that can make more breast-cancer cells, seemingly forever, surrounded by an ocean of
noncancer-initiating cells."


... 'Ever more sobering, the molecular pathways that scientists have recently identified, with much fanfare, as allowing cancer cells to grow
may not be critical after all. If such a pathway promotes growth in the zillions of cells that are not cancer stem cells, it may be inconsequential. The only pathways that matter are those that keep the miscreants alive and thriving. Or as Dr. Weinberg told me, "tumor stem cells may explain why you can have tumor shrinkage but not life
extension. If current chemotherapies don't target tumor stem cells, the cells keep making more tumor." '

note: Dr. Weinberg: " ... cancer biologist Robert Weinberg of the Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Mass., who discovered the first human oncogene."

http://tinyurl.com/372tp

or long link of
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/...6-IVjgoNilaB3n
p2sa3SIa6yHm4,00.html

From --
http://www.cancernews.com/data/Article/251.asp
UMCCC (University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center) "... special
cancer stem cell center at UMCCC to concentrate on this paradigm shift in cancer research."

' "These tumor-inducing cells have many of the properties of stem cells," says Michael Clarke, M.D., a U-M professor of internal medicine,
who directed the study. "They make copies of themselves - a process called self-renewal - and produce all the other kinds of cells in the
original tumor."

Although similar cells have been identified in human leukemia, these are the first to be found in solid tumors, Clarke adds. The cells were
isolated from primary or metastatic breast cancers removed from nine women treated for cancer at the U-M's Cancer Center.

Alix comments, "This exciting research will be pivotal in the way physicians treat breast cancer. "


Further reading at:
http://www.cancer.med.umich.edu/news/stemcell.htm

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/100/7/3547.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/22n7x or long link of
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/news/ca...stemcells.html

http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/1/1/11

http://www.scienceblog.com/community/article1093.html

What are stem cells?
"Stem cells are unspecialized. One of the fundamental properties of a stem cell is that it does not have any tissue-specific structures that
allow it to perform specialized functions. A stem cell cannot work with its neighbors to pump blood through the body (like a heart muscle cell);
it cannot carry molecules of oxygen through the bloodstream (like a red blood cell); and it cannot fire electrochemical signals to other cells
that allow the body to move or speak (like a nerve cell). However, unspecialized stem cells can give rise to specialized cells, including
heart muscle cells, blood cells, or nerve cells.

Stem cells are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. Unlike muscle cells, blood cells, or nerve cells - which do not
normally replicate themselves - stem cells may replicate many times. When cells replicate themselves many times over it is called
proliferation. A starting population of stem cells that proliferates for many months in the laboratory can yield millions of cells. If the
resulting cells continue to be unspecialized, like the parent stem cells, the cells are said to be capable of long-term self-renewal."

from "Stem Cell Information" from the National Institute of Health:
http://stemcells.nih.gov/infoCenter/...llBasics.asp#1

Thanks Janelle, that was very interesting--something I'd like to look into more.

Blessings and Hugs,

Linda in MI.

Very interesting. Certainly worth tracking. Thanks for the great info. Eric