Form of Stem Cells causing Breast cancer

[Guest guest]

-

<arnoldgore

Form of Stem Cells causing Breast cancer

 

 

 

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

 

Newsletter #82 05/04/03

 

----------------------

 

 

 

 

Scientists Identify Stem Cells

 

As Hidden Cause of Cancer, Part 2

 

 

 

 

As I discussed last week, Michigan scientists recently

 

announced that a malignant form of stem cells may be

 

responsible for the development of breast cancer.

 

According to a University of Michigan press release,

 

their new understanding is " a paradigm shift in cancer

 

research, " and the University has promised to raise

 

$12 million to investigate this concept.

 

 

 

But actually this research has very old antecedents. In

 

1902, Prof. John Beard of Edinburgh first proposed

 

" germ cells " as the ultimate cause of cancer. These

 

germ cells, he said, were in a sense capable of giving

 

rise to other types of differentiated cells found in an

 

organism. In 1998, mainstream scientists made a huge

 

leap in understanding cancer when they discovered (and

 

patented) embryonic stem cells (ESC). They did not

 

reference Beard in their paper, but they used the term

 

" totipotent " that had often been applied to describe

 

germ cells, meaning that they were capable of

 

developing into any other tissue.

 

 

 

As in the recent Michigan finding, Beard described

 

these aberrant germ cells as a tiny minority of cells

 

with enormous power that are present in a larger mass

 

of reactive tissue. He actually saw these cells in

 

fishes and reptiles and then speculated on their

 

presence in human tissue as well. From their presumed

 

presence in malignant tissue, Beard came to the

 

conclusion that cancer was in essence a single disease

 

which had many manifestations. (A comparable phenomenon

 

would be syphilis, which can manifest itself so

 

differently in so many different organs that it has

 

been called the " great impostor. " ) From this point of

 

view, the many and varied characteristics of each kind

 

of cancer are due to the interaction of truly malignant

 

cells with neighboring, normal cells and the reaction

 

of surrounding tissues. This takes place under the

 

influence of hormones and cytokines within the

 

microenvironment of each particular organ or tissue.

 

But, according to Beard's theory, the fundamental

 

origin is almost always the same, i.e., it is

 

trophoblastic in nature.

 

 

 

To view a diagram of the development of stem cells

 

click or go to:

 

http://www.cancerdecisions.com/images/cells0.gif

 

 

 

Beard said that the first step on the road to cancer

 

occurred when germ cells differentiated into

 

trophoblasts and somatic cells. When that happens in

 

the course of embryo formation, it is necessary and

 

normal. However, when such a process occurs outside the

 

course of pregnancy, the result is what we call cancer.

 

 

 

There are many points of similarity or identity between

 

trophoblasts and cancer cells. As I discussed in last

 

week's newsletter, it has been found that the truly

 

dangerous and malignant portions of breast tumors have

 

a unique configuration of surface markers: all express

 

a protein marker called CD44, in addition to having

 

either very low levels, or no levels, of another marker

 

called CD24. But in a 1996 article, Israeli scientists

 

demonstrated that CD44 surface markers are also found

 

on trophoblasts. " In this study we found human

 

trophoblasts, for the first time, to express CD44, " Dr.

 

Ran Goshen and his colleagues at the Hebrew University

 

in Jerusalem wrote. " Intermediate trophoblasts of the

 

first and second trimester exhibited the standard form

 

of CD44.... " So here is another important confirmation

 

of the trophoblast-cancer link.

 

 

 

Looked at from a Beardian perspective this uniformity

 

is not surprising. Nor is the fact that the same

 

markers are found in cancers as disparate as leukemia

 

and breast cancer. One can predict that they will now

 

be found in many other cancer types as well. It also

 

helped confirm Beard's theory when modern scientists

 

announced that human embryonic stem cells (ESCs)

 

produce and release the hCG hormone.

 

 

 

As I wrote last year on the 100th anniversary of

 

Beard's discovery, the relationship between Beard's

 

germ cells and contemporary totipotent stem cells

 

deserves further study. More and more, trophoblast and

 

cancer look like two names for the same general

 

phenomenon. Further research will hopefully lead to a

 

revived interest in Beard's contribution, and an

 

incorporation of his powerful ideas into contemporary

 

stem cell research.

 

 

 

 

Implications for Treatment

 

 

 

 

It is understandable that U-M scientists, excited by

 

their important findings, would think that an answer to

 

cancer lies in their newly isolated cancer stem cells.

 

The University of Michigan has in fact filed a patent

 

on Dr. Clarke's discovery of stem cells in cancer and

 

Dr. Clarke and his colleagues have also formed a new

 

company called Cancer Stem Cell Genomics (CSCG) to

 

develop and test new therapies to destroy or disable

 

these cells. Dr. Wicha has said that " now that we can

 

actually identify [the cancerous stem cells], we can

 

start developing treatments to specifically target and

 

hopefully eliminate them. "

 

 

 

Naturally, I wish them good luck. However, judging from

 

Beard's pioneering work, they may find that there is a

 

missing link in this process. In Beardian terms, the

 

stem cell is like a loaded gun. In and of itself it is

 

not the cause of cancer. What 'pulls the trigger' is

 

the differentiation of the tumor's stem cell into a

 

malignant component of cells that are trophoblast-like

 

in their nature.

 

 

 

In February 1905, Beard theorized that " the secretion

 

of that important digestive gland, the pancreas, " could

 

be employed as a natural form of cancer treatment. The

 

first evidence that injections of the pancreatic

 

proteolytic enzyme trypsin did indeed kill cancer cells