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03/21: Stem cell “switch” discovered by BC Cancer Agency
New discovery may improve our understanding of how to treat leukemia
Researchers at the BC Cancer Agency have discovered that blood stem cells undergo a rapid change in their properties early in life, an advance which may eventually lead to better treatments of leukemia and other cancers of the blood system.
Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study by Dr. Connie Eaves and her team at the BC Cancer Agency’s Terry Fox Laboratory shows that the properties of normal blood stem cells in fetal and adult mice are very different and switch from the fetal type to the adult type in a very abrupt fashion a few weeks after birth. In addition, their work indicates that the timing of this switch is intrinsically programmed as if a clock were ticking in the fetal stem cells regardless of where they are located.
Previously, it was not clear exactly how fetal and adult blood stem cells differ or when the properties of adult stem cells were acquired. The finding that they remain unchanged until after birth and then suddenly change - all at once - was not expected.
“There have not been many examples of such a profound developmental change in stem cells in the past,” says Dr. Eaves. “It is exciting to see this in the blood system because the types of leukemias that are most common in very young children are different from those that typically occur in adults. It makes one suspicious that this difference may be related to this dramatic developmental change in blood stem cell properties.”
The next step, currently underway at the BC Cancer Agency, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority, is to pinpoint the mechanism involved in mediating the switch.
“By understanding how the fetal to adult switch is triggered,” explains David Kent, one of the study’s authors and a graduate student at the BC Cancer Agency, “ we may also be able to block it or reverse it. We could then design treatments that would give adult bone marrow cells the greatly increased growth potential that is lost when fetal stem cells undergo the switch.”
Core support for research at the BC Cancer Agency is provided by the BC Cancer Foundation. Funding for this research paper was provided by the Canadian Cancer Society (with funds from the Terry Fox Foundation); the Stem Cell Network; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health of the USA; the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
The BC Cancer Agency, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority, is committed to reducing the incidence of cancer, reducing the mortality from cancer, and improving the quality of life of those living with cancer. It provides a comprehensive cancer control program for the people of British Columbia by working with community partners to deliver a range of oncology services, including prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, research, education, supportive care, rehabilitation and palliative care. The BC Cancer Foundation raises funds to support research and enhancements to patient care at the BC Cancer Agency.
Contact:
Nicole Adams
Director, Communications
BC Cancer Agency
604.675.8105
nadams@bccancer.bc.ca
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