(Press-News.org) For the first time, scientists have uncovered new information on how stem cells in the human bowel behave, revealing vital clues about the earliest stages in bowel cancer development and how we may begin to prevent it.
The study, led by Queen May University of London (QMUL) and published today in the journal Cell Reports, discovered how many stem cells exist within the human bowel and how they behave and evolve over time. It was revealed that within a healthy bowel, stem cells are in constant competition with each other for survival and only a certain number of stem cells can exist within one area at a time (referred to as the 'stem cell niche'). However, when investigating stem cells in early tumours, the researchers saw increased numbers of stem cells within each area as well as intensified competition for survival, suggesting a link between stem cell activity and bowel cancer development.
The study involved studying stem cells directly within the human body using a specially developed 'toolkit'. The toolkit worked by measuring random mutations that naturally accrue in ageing stem cells. The random mutations recorded how the stem cells had behaved, similarly to how the rings on a tree trunk record how a tree grew over time. The techniques used were unique in that scientists were able to study the human stem cells within their natural environment, giving a much more accurate picture of their behaviour.
Until this research, the stem cell biology of the human bowel has remained largely a mystery. This is because most stem cell research is carried out in mice, and it was uncertain how research findings in mice could be applied to humans. However, the scientists in fact found the stem cell biology of human bowels to have significant similarities to mice bowels. This means researchers can continue investigating stem cell activity within mice with the knowledge it is representative of humans - hopefully speeding up bowel cancer research.
Importantly, these new research methods can also now be applied to investigate stem cells in other parts of the human body such as skin, prostate, lung and breast, with the aim of accelerating cancer research in these areas too.
Dr Trevor Graham, Lecturer in Tumour Biology and Study Author at Queen Mary University of London, comments: "Unearthing how stem cells behave within the human bowel is a big step forward for stem cell research. Until now, stem cell research was mostly conducted in mice or involved taking the stem cells out of their natural environment, thus distorting their usual behaviour. We now want to use the methods developed in this study to understand how stem cells behave inside bowel cancer, so we can increase our understanding of how bowel cancer grows. This will hopefully shed more light on how we can prevent bowel cancer – the fourth most common cancer in the UK. We are positive this research lays important foundations for future bowel cancer prevention work, as well as prevention work in other cancers."
Dr Marnix Jansen, Histopathologist and Study Author at Queen Mary University of London, comments: "This study was made possible through the involvement of patients either diagnosed with bowel cancer or born with a tendency to develop bowel cancer. Only by investigating tissues taken directly from patients could we study how bowel cancers develop. Our work underlines the importance of patient involvement in scientific research if we are to tackle bowel cancer and help the greatest number of people."
INFORMATION:
About Queen Mary University of London
Queen Mary University of London is among the UK's leading research-intensive higher education institutions, with five campuses in the capital: Mile End, Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, West Smithfield and Lincoln's Inn Fields.
A member of the Russell Group, Queen Mary is also one of the largest of the colleges of the University of London, with 17,800 students - 20 per cent of whom are from more than 150 countries.
Some 4,000 staff deliver world-class degrees and research across 21 departments, within three Faculties: Science and Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; and the School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Queen Mary has an annual turnover of £350m, research income worth £100m, and generates employment and output worth £700m to the UK economy each year.
Unique for London universities, Queen Mary has an integrated residential campus in Mile End - a 2,000-bed award-winning Student Village overlooking the scenic Regents Canal.
Scientists uncover stem cell behavior of human bowel for the first time
2014-08-07
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Cancer categories recast in largest-ever genomic study
2014-08-07
New research partly led by UC San Francisco-affiliated scientists suggests that one in 10 cancer patients would be more accurately diagnosed if their tumors were defined by cellular and molecular criteria rather than by the tissues in which they originated, and that this information, in turn, could lead to more appropriate treatments.
In the largest study of its kind to date, scientists analyzed molecular and genetic characteristics of more than 3,500 tumor samples of 12 different cancer types using multiple genomic technology platforms.
Cancers traditionally have ...
Scientists uncover key piece to cancer cell survival puzzle
2014-08-07
A chance meeting between two leading UK and US scientists could have finally helped solve a key mystery in cancer research.
Scientists have long known that chromosomal defects occur as cells repeatedly divide. Over time, these defects are linked to the onset of cancer.
Now, Professor Duncan Baird and his team from Cardiff University working in collaboration with Eric A. Hendrickson from the University of Minnesota, have identified a specific gene that human cells require in order to survive these types of defects.
"We have found a gene that appears to be crucial ...
Regulations needed to identify potentially invasive biofuel crops
2014-08-07
URBANA, Ill. – If the hottest new plant grown as a biofuel crop is approved based solely on its greenhouse gas emission profile, its potential as the next invasive species may not be discovered until it's too late. In response to this need to prevent such invasions, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed both a set of regulatory definitions and provisions and a list of 49 low-risk biofuel plants from which growers can choose.
Lauren Quinn, an invasive plant ecologist at U of I's Energy Biosciences Institute, recognized that most of the news about invasive ...
Peer-reviewed paper says all ivory markets must close
2014-08-07
NEW YORK (August 7, 2014) – The message is simple: to save elephants, all ivory markets must close and all ivory stockpiles must be destroyed, according to a new peer-reviewed paper by the Wildlife Conservation Society. The paper says that corruption, organized crime, and a lack of enforcement make any legal trade of ivory a major factor contributing to the demise of Africa's elephants.
Appearing in the August 7th online edition of the journal Conservation Biology, the paper says that if we are to conserve significant wild populations of elephants across all regions ...
Carnegie Mellon's new programming language accommodates multiple languages in same program
2014-08-07
PITTSBURGH—Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have designed a way to safely use multiple programming languages within the same program, enabling programmers to use the language most appropriate for each function while guarding against code injection attacks, one of the most severe security threats in Web applications today.
A research group led by Jonathan Aldrich, associate professor in the Institute for Software Research (ISR), is developing a programming language called Wyvern that makes it possible to construct programs using a variety of targeted, ...
Stock prices of companies that use the same underwriter tend to move together
2014-08-07
HOUSTON – (Aug. 7, 2014) – The stock prices of companies that use the same lead underwriter during their equity offerings tend to move together, according to a new study by financial economics experts at Rice University and the University of Alabama.
"We tested the hypothesis that investment banking networks affect stock prices and trading behavior," said James Weston, a professor of finance at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business. "Consistent with the notion that investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch serve as information hubs for segmented groups ...
Elderly with depression, mild cognitive impairment more vulnerable to accelerated brain aging
2014-08-07
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 7, 2014 – People who develop depression and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) after age 65 are more likely to have biological and brain imaging markers that reflect a greater vulnerability for accelerated brain aging, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The findings were published online in Molecular Psychiatry.
Older adults with major depression have double the risk of developing dementia in the future compared with those who have never had the mood disorder, said senior investigator Meryl A. ...
Largest cancer genetic analysis reveals new way of classifying cancer
2014-08-07
Researchers with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network have completed the largest, most diverse tumor genetic analysis ever conducted, revealing a new approach to classifying cancers. The work, led by researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other TCGA sites, not only revamps traditional ideas of how cancers are diagnosed and treated, but could also have a profound impact on the future landscape of drug development.
"We found that one in 10 cancers analyzed in this study would be classified ...
Physical fitness can help prevent young adolescents' depression, study finds
2014-08-07
WASHINGTON – Physically fit sixth-graders – especially girls – are less likely to report feeling depressed when they reach seventh grade, according to a study presented at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention.
Even when researchers considered existing symptoms of depression and weight, sixth-grade girls who performed better on a cardiorespiratory fitness test were less likely to feel depressed when they were surveyed again in seventh grade. There was a smaller but similar effect on boys' depression, according to the findings presented by Camilo ...
Fundamental plant chemicals trace back to bacteria
2014-08-07
MADISON, Wis. — A fundamental chemical pathway that all plants use to create an essential amino acid needed by all animals to make proteins has now been traced to two groups of ancient bacteria. The pathway is also known for making hundreds of chemicals, including a compound that makes wood strong and the pigments that make red wine red.
"We have been trying to unravel the source of the phenylalanine amino acid for some time," says Hiroshi Maeda, an assistant professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Plants use this pathway to make natural products ...