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Kimmel Center researchers find drug-resistant
Issue date: 2/7/08
There is evidence that cancer stem cells for multiple myeloma are resistant to the four most common chemotherapy drugs used for treatment of the disease.
The study, published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, provides was conducted at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Hopkins and was led by Assistant Professor of Oncology William Matsui.
Matsui and his colleagues took stem cells from the blood of four multiple myeloma patients and transplanted them into mice. Signs of cancer appeared in the bone marrow of all of the animals, providing solid evidence that the cells act as cancer stem cells.
With this established, the scientists then looked at the special stem cells' responses to four chemotherapy drugs as compared to the responses of multiple myeloma plasma cells.
Growth of the plasma cells was inhibited by the drugs, but the stem cells proved to be resistant.
The reason may be the strong presence in the stem cells of toxin-neutralizing enzymes, which make drugs ineffective and force them out of the cells through pumps in the cell membrane.
Tracking the cancer stem cells could help doctors follow the progress of their patients.
Each year, multiple myeloma attacks the bone marrow and bone tissue of more than 14,000 Americans. The disease kills about 11,000 of these patients.
The National Institutes of Health, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Pearse family provided funding for the study.
The study, published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, provides was conducted at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Hopkins and was led by Assistant Professor of Oncology William Matsui.
Matsui and his colleagues took stem cells from the blood of four multiple myeloma patients and transplanted them into mice. Signs of cancer appeared in the bone marrow of all of the animals, providing solid evidence that the cells act as cancer stem cells.
With this established, the scientists then looked at the special stem cells' responses to four chemotherapy drugs as compared to the responses of multiple myeloma plasma cells.
Growth of the plasma cells was inhibited by the drugs, but the stem cells proved to be resistant.
The reason may be the strong presence in the stem cells of toxin-neutralizing enzymes, which make drugs ineffective and force them out of the cells through pumps in the cell membrane.
Tracking the cancer stem cells could help doctors follow the progress of their patients.
Each year, multiple myeloma attacks the bone marrow and bone tissue of more than 14,000 Americans. The disease kills about 11,000 of these patients.
The National Institutes of Health, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Pearse family provided funding for the study.
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