Major Development Discovered for Prostate Cancer: Cell of Origin Identified

Anyone who has ever dealt with cancer themselves, or had a family member go through what cancer can bring, knows that key to cancer research is finding the “cell of origin.”

Doctors and scientists doing research on prostate cancer at UCLA have found that “cell of origin” in regards to prostate cancer. By growing human tissue in lab mice, scientists have found that basal cells are the cells that produce prostate cancer and they can regenerate. This is a major development in the treatment of prostate cancer.

“The basal cells, we’ve almost always ignored, and it turns out it may be causing cancer,” said Dr. Anthony Smith, who is with the UAU and was familiar with, but not directly involved in the current study.

Using a new research technique, both luminal cells, and basal cells were put into mice. When they were induced to produce cancer, only the bascal cells turned into tumors. While this is big news in the prostate cancer research community, it also can be used in research involving other types of cancer.

Scientists in this study want to point out that when you are dealing with mouse studies they are still early in this research process. This is pointing researchers in the right direction, and now they can move on to the next phase of the study.