Stem cells help attack cancer in mice

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Stem cells help attack cancer in mice

Tests by US scientists in mice showed that stem cells, immature cells could deliver powerful cancer-killing proteins, destroy tumors while leaving healthy cells untouched, Reuters reported on Monday.

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Tests by US scientists in mice showed that stem cells, immature cells could deliver powerful cancer-killing proteins, destroy tumors while leaving healthy cells untouched, Reuters reported on Monday.

Dr. Michael Andreeff and colleagues from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston used cells taken from bone marrow to carry interferon alpha, an immune system protein that can help kill cancer cells, or a cancer-destroying virus.

By experimenting on mice, these cells slowed several kinds of leukemia, attacked melanoma -- skin cancer and breast cancer cells -- that had spread to the lung, and tackled brain tumors, thereupon healing 70 percent of mice implanted with one kind of human ovarian cancer, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research in Orlando, Florida.

"These cells are capable of migrating from the bone marrow or blood circulation selectively into tumors and produce anti-tumor agents only at the sites of these tumors and their metastasis. The anti-tumor effects are observed when the cells integrate into the tumor micro-environment," said Andreeff in a statement.

Source: Xinhua

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