Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zf-6fzw-Vo

06-02-2012 16:47 Salk scientists use an old theory to discover new targets in the fight against breast cancer Similarities between genetic signatures in developing organs and breast cancer could predict and personalize cancer therapies Reviving a theory first proposed in the late 1800s that the development of organs in the normal embryo and the development of cancers are related, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have studied organ development in mice to unravel how breast cancers, and perhaps other cancers, develop in people. Their findings provide new ways to predict and personalize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In a paper published February 3 in Cell Stem Cell, the scientists report striking similarities between genetic signatures found in certain types of human breast cancer and those of stem cells in breast tissue in mouse embryos. These findings suggest that cancer cells subvert key genetic programs that guide immature cells to build organs during normal growth. "Stem cells in a healthy developing embryo have a GPS system to alert them about their position in the organ," says Geoffrey Wahl, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory, who led the research. "The system depends on internal instructions and external signals from the environment to tell the stem cell what to do and where to go in the body. It stimulates the stem cells to grow and form more stem cells, or to change into different cells that form complex organs, such as the breast. Our ...

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Stem Cell Study Finds New Treatments For Breast Cancer - Video

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