Stem Cells Found In The Lung
Related News: Stem Cell Research, Stem Cells and CancerResearchers at MIT's Center for Cancer Research have discovered stem cells in the lung.
This is thusfar, the first time anyone has found stem cells in the lung that we know of. The MIT team claims that these cells could be the stem cells that cause lung cancer.
"We think those cells are the ones that first proliferate after a [cancer] gene gets activated," says Carla Bender Kim, a postdoctoral fellow at the center and lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Cell.
Basically only a small percentage of patients that are diagnosed with advanced-stage lung cancer survive. However, the survival rate jumps significantly when the disease is caught earlier.
"If we could use this knowledge of stem cells to learn more about the human situation, that would be very helpful," Bender Kim says.
The stem cells were found in the region in the lungs between the bronchioles as well as the alveoli.
She named the group bronchioalveolar stem cells. Likely we will see stem cell researchers that focus on cancer and related treatment and preventative studies to branch out from this research, so keep a close eye out for more study in this segment of the field.
First Lung Stem Cells Discovered May Lead to the Early Detection of Lung Cancer
Posted on March 14, 2006 03:27 PM