Monday, February 14, 2011

Mutant Stem Cells Can Cause Skin Cancer at Cuts (Cancer takes 'adding insult to injury' to a new level.)

Mutant Stem Cells Can Cause Skin Cancer at Cuts: Scientific American


Stem cell image via ThinkProgress.


But other researchers say that most basal cell carcinomas do not develop at the sites of injury, so the finding is of limited significance. 'This is certainly not a major mechanism underlying basal cell carcinoma formation in humans,' says Sabine Werner, a cell biologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. 
But Werner acknowledges that the study does demonstrate a note-worthy principle. 'It may well be that mobilization of cells with oncogenic mutations to other sites -- in particular to sites with a pro-tumorigenic micro-environment, such as wounds -- could trigger tumorigenesis. This is the most interesting finding of this manuscript,' she says.
1. Can we please make stem cell research a priority?
2. As always, fuck cancer. Just ... fuck it.
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