Aug. 9, 2009 Johns Hopkins scientists have tracked down a
powerful set of cells in bladder tumors that seem to be
primarily responsible for the cancer's growth and spread using a
technique that takes advantage of similarities between tumor and
organ growth. The findings, reported in the July Stem Cells,
could help scientists develop new ways of finding and attacking
similar cells in other types of cancer. Researchers have long
suspected that a subset of cells in cancerous tumors act much
like developmentally primitive cells known as stem cells, which
spur organ development early in life and remain present in
nearly all the body's organs to repair or replace injured and
aging tissues. These cancer cells and stem cells share a variety
of characteristics including an unlimited lifespan and a
propensity to migrate through tissues. These same properties are
the ones that make cancer particularly dangerous, says David
Berman, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, oncology,
and urology at the Johns Hopkins