Researchers Isolate the Root of Prostate Cancer

Researchers at the Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) Unit at the University of York have discovered how to isolate the 'root' of prostate cancer, tumor stem cells, which make up one in 1,000 of cancer cells.

The breakthrough by the YCR Professor of Molecular Biology Norman Maitland and Dr. Anne Collins will help the development of therapies for treating stem cells to stop them regenerating.

Maitland, the Director of the Unit based in the University's Department of Biology, said: "For the first time we have been able to extract these stem cells from prostate cancers and we are the only people in the world who have been able to propagate them in the laboratory.

"These cells are difficult to see, but Dr Collins has found some clever ways of identifying them. It's the most exciting thing I have seen in 10 years, but we don't want to give people false hope because the therapies for treating tumor stem cells have still to be developed. We are beginning to understand what they look like. We can now investigate specific therapies for killing the 'roots' rather than the 'leaves' of prostate cancers."

Elaine King, Chief Executive at the Yorkshire Cancer Research, added: "This is a definite step forward in the understanding of tumor stem cells. This latest discovery will allow YCR scientists to build upon this framework of knowledge, in the hope of developing effective treatments in the future."

The research may also have implications for the treatment of other cancers - tumor stem cells also occur in cancers of the breast and colon as well as in brain tumors.

In other news, researchers at the Ohio State University have developed a new line of prostate cancer cells that they hope will provide a better model to study the disease.

This new cancer-cell line has already provided some help. One new study in mice identified a promising possible therapy to reduce skeletal pain that accompanies prostate cancer. Scientists found that a substance called anti-nerve growth factor appeared to be more effective in controlling pain in mice than even morphine.

Armed with this new cell line, scientists will be able to more directly study how prostate cancer affects the body, said Rosol, whose laboratory developed the cell line.

Metastatic bone tumors are a common manifestation in patients with late-stage breast cancer or prostate cancer. "Metastasis" means that cancer has spread from its original site to other areas of the body. But breast cancer typically destroys bone at tumor sites, whereas prostate cancer tumors that spread to bone induce abnormal bone growth.