As the researchers conclude,tumors contain their own supply of germ cells or stem cellsthat can multiply and continue to feed the cancer after it has been treated and (apparently) “cured.” It is suspected that the tumor stem cells would form a group that could remain indormant state during chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments, to form new tumors months or years later. ? The articles published now provide the first clear experimental evidence that cancer stem cells exist ,? said Robert Weinberg, a researcher at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge and an expert on cancer, upon hearing the papers.
? It is too early to know if these results, obtained in rats fortumors of the brain, stomach, and skinWill they be applicable to other types of cancer ?, said Luis Parada, a researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and co-author of one of the studies. But if confirmed, he adds, it will be a paradigm shift in the way in which chemotherapy treatment is evaluated whether it has been effective and how a tumor is treated. From now on, we will have to think about whether we kill the correct cells, the “true enemy,” Parada points out. Another possibility would be, instead of destroying these cells, to find a therapy that prevents them from dividing, another way to prevent tumors from forming.
