Scientists targeting cancer stem cells for advanced stem cell therapy of cancer patients

A study conducted in the year of 2008 proposed that it is possible that cancer tumors might contain cancer stem cells. Stem cells are in actual those basic structures of cell which have the capability to grow into different types of cell. Similarly the stem cells of cancer are the early cells that grow and then divide to increase the level of illness. The scientists are hoping to improve the stem cell treatments by specifically targeting these cancerous stem cells. Nowadays, there are available large numbers of drugs that can completely destroy a large number of cancer cells.

It is another fact that these cells are so powerful that they still survive in spite of these treatments. They even start growing again that prevents the body from utilizing the health benefits. So, the discovery of cancerous stem cells has generated an interest in developing those drugs especially targeted for these cells. All the scientists are very  excited about the idea of such drugs as these are sure to bring many solutions for diseases for which no cure has been found yet. Robert A. Weinberg from MIT and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is known to be an expert in this field. Piyush Gupta has already done vast research in the study of current treatments by drug that is affecting cancer stem cells. Weinberg worked in close association with Piyush Gupta as well.

Nowadays, there are many cancer drugs which affect the functioning of their stem cells. Working on this concept Piyush Gupta started working on the project and screened about 16000 different compounds so as to find specific drugs for stem cell therapy which are targeting stem cells. As a result of the research it came to light that an antibacterial can effectively fight against the large number of stem cells of breast cancer. The antiseptic used was Salinomycin. In Oxford Cancer Research Organization, scientists have developed a modern method to obtain the samples of cancer stem cells from the bowel cell lines. In the research, cancer cell lines were used and cancer stem cells were isolated by using biological markers.

Professor Bodmer who led the study believes that working on cell lines make the research more convenient based on analyzing samples from human sample and animals. Verastem is a pharmaceutical firm that is doing research about how antibacterial can be used in first cancer treatment which targets the specific cancerous stem cells. The company is also planning about screening of additional 300,000 compounds so as to discover the extra alternatives which might target these cells. Similarly, there is one other firm that is completely into the stem cell research related to cancer -OncoMed.

It is registered in CA, Redwood City whose researchers are devoted in the research to discover the ways for diminishing the self renewing ability of cancer stem cells.  Researchers have the opinion that in future it will definitely result into development of several drugs that are both safe and useful and have a target on cancer stem cells. Now it has become clear that a tumor can have majority of cancerous stem cells.