UNC Researchers Turn Skin Cells To Cancer-Killing Stem Cells

UNC pharmacy researchers have successfully turned skin cells into cancer-hunting stem cells that destroy brain tumors known as glioblastom.

“Patients desperately need a better standard of care,” said Shawn Hingtgen, who led the study.

The survival rate beyond two years is 30 percent because even when the brain tumor is removed, it is nearly impossible to get all of the cancerous cells, which will grow back.

After turn the skin cells to stem cells, Hingtgen and his team showed that these neural stem cells have an innate ability to move throughout the brain and home in on and kill any remaining cancer cells.

Depending on the type of tumor, the mice tested had an increased survival time anywhere from 160 to 200 percent.

Hingtgen’s work built upon research that won the Nobel Prize in 2007 and 2012

“We wanted to find out if these induced neural stem cells would home in on cancer cells and whether they could be used to deliver a therapeutic agent,” he said. “This is the first time this direct reprogramming technology has been used to treat cancer.”

The next step is to try to develop human stem cells and testing more effective anti-cancer drugs that can be loaded into the tumor-seeking neural stem cells.

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UNC Researchers Turn Skin Cells To Cancer-Killing Stem Cells

UNC pharmacy researchers have successfully turned skin cells into cancer-hunting stem cells that destroy brain tumors known as glioblastom. “Patients desperately need a better standard of care,” said Shawn Hingtgen, who led the study. The survival rate beyond two years is 30 percent because even when the brain tumor is removed, it is nearly impossible […]

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