| | Category | ME | L25 | Cancer Stem Cells: The Key to Cancer Cure? |
| | Abstract | Despite the drastic leaps in technology, scientists have yet to find a cure |
| | for cancer. Neuroblastoma, which is one of the most common types of |
| | cancer amongst children, has become the subject of much experimentation |
| | because of the similarities of neuroblastoma cells to stem cells. The |
| | cancer stem cell theory suggests that tumor initiating cells with stem cells |
| | like properties are responsible for cancer relapse. Using two |
| | neuroblastoma cell lines that were cultured to have different stem cell like |
| | properties, the chemotherapeutic drug Cisplatin was applied to the cell |
| | lines over the course of three days to see how it affected the cell lines. In |
| | addition, an anti-oxidant agent, ginger, was applied to the same two cell |
| | lines in hope of finding alternatives to fighting this cancer. Although |
| | Cisplatin killed over 90% of all cells in both cell lines, it appeared to be more |
| | effective in the cell line more similar to stem cells. Ginger, on the other |
| | hand, had little effect compared to Cisplatin but inhibited growth in both cell |
| | lines. In conclusion, the two different cell lines seemed to behave |
| | differently in response to an effective chemotherapeutic agent and ginger |
| | might have some role in cancer prevention. Neuroblastoma cell lines might |
| | provide crucial insight to the behavior of cancer stem cells and further |
| | experimentation in this area is warranted to expand understanding of the |
| | cancer stem theory. |
| | Bibliography | 1) Bhattacharyya S., & Khanduja, K.L. (2010). New hope in the horizon: |
| | cancer stems cells. Acta Biochiminica Sinica, 42, 237-242. 2) Brodeur GM, |
| | Maris JM. Neuroblastoma. In: Pizzo PA, Poplack DG, editors. Priciples and |
| | practice of pediatric of pediatric oncology. Lippincott: Williams & Wilkins; |
| | 2006. p. 934. 3) Eve, DJ., MArty, P.J., McDermott, R.J.,Klasko, S.K., & |
| | Sanberg, P.R. (2008). Stem cell research and health education. American |
| | Journal of Health Education, 39, 167-179. |