Discovery of Marker for Colon Stem Cells Could Shed Light on What Drives Tumor Growth

Discovery of Marker for Colon Stem Cells Could Shed Light on What Drives Tumor
Growth

WILMINGTON, Del., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Cancer researchers led by Bruce
Boman, M.D., Ph.D. director of Cancer Genetics and Stem Cell Biology at the
Helen F. Graham Cancer Center of the Christiana Care Health System, and a
faculty member at the University of Delaware, have discovered an enzyme common
to both normal and malignant colon stem cells that will assist scientists
searching for a cure for colon cancer.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090407/DC95299LOGO )

To date, knowledge of a substance, often referred to as a marker, that enables
doctors to identify, locate, and isolate normal and malignant colon stem
cells, has been elusive. But the discovery by Dr. Boman and colleagues that
aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) is a marker for identifying and isolating
colon stem cells is a potential breakthrough in the search for a key to what
drives colon cancer growth.

"This is a very important tool for future research," said Boman, M.D., Ph.D.,
M.S.P.H., and F.A.C.P., who is also a professor of Medical Oncology at Thomas
Jefferson University. "Finding a better way to identify, isolate, and track
colon cancer stem cells moves us one step closer to understanding what drives
tumor growth and to developing new treatments for advanced colon cancer and
ways to prevent colon cancer from developing in the first place."

Dr. Boman adds that his team decided to focus on ALDH1 because it had
previously been identified as a marker for leukemias, brain cancers, and
breast cancer. The researchers found that ALDH1 is a more specific marker for
colon cancer stem cells than are other previously identified candidate
markers.

In the study, researchers implanted into mice colon stem cells from seven
patients diagnosed with colon cancer, and found that the number of ALDH1 cells
increased as the colon cancer progressed.

"Dr. Boman and his team's discovery demonstrates the tremendous strides being
made in translational cancer research," says Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank
of America Endowed Medical Director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center. "It
is high-impact cancer research like this that allows researchers to translate
their discoveries into new tools for physicians to benefit the cancer patients
in Delaware and throughout the world."

The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health,
Gregg and Stacey Bacchieri, and the Will and Jeanne Caldwell Fund for Cancer
Research at the University of Michigan.

Other researchers on the team in addition to Boman include Emina Huang, of the
Department of Surgery at the University of Florida; Mark Hynes, of the
Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan; Tao Zhang, of the
Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Delaware; Christophe
Ginestier, Gabriela Dontu, Henry Appelman and Max S. Wicha of the
Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Michigan; and Jeremy Z.
Fields of CA*TX Biotechnology Inc. in Gladwyne, Pa.

The study appears online on April 7 and in print on April 15 in the journal
Cancer Research, published by the American Association of Cancer Research.

www.Christianacare.org.

SOURCE Christiana Care Health System

Spiros Mantzavinos of the Christiana Care Health System, +1-302-327-3344,
smantzavinos@christianacare.org