A recent study published in the journal “Nature Communications” has shed new light on the potential of using stem cell-derived therapies to combat treatment-resistant liver cancers. The research, led by a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego, revealed that these therapies could offer a novel approach to targeting and eliminating cancer cells that have become resistant to conventional treatments.
The team, which included researchers from the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Jacobs School of Engineering, focused on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of primary Colorectal Cancer Screening Market. HCC is notoriously difficult to treat, particularly when it has progressed to an advanced stage or has developed resistance to current therapies.
To explore the potential of stem cell-derived therapies, the researchers used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – cells that can be generated from adult cells and reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells. They then differentiated these iPSCs into hepatocytes, or liver cells, which they could use to study the disease and test potential treatments.
The researchers discovered that these hepatocytes, when exposed to certain cancer-causing agents, developed the same resistance to treatment as HCC cells in patients. However, they also found that when they treated these resistant hepatocytes with a specific combination of drugs, they could effectively eliminate the cancer cells.
The team then tested this approach in mice with HCC, and the results were promising. They found that the combination therapy not only eliminated the cancer cells but also prevented the development of new tumorss