The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies Bicentenary

Cell discovery offers hope of bone cancer treatment for children

Scientists have discovered a rogue cancer stem cell that could lead to new treatments for bone cancer in children and adolescents.

The Edinburgh University Cancer Centre

Stem Cell Identified

The stem cell, identified by experts at the University of Edinburgh, makes copies of cancer cells in the bone, enabling them to proliferate and spread throughout the body.

However, while radiation and chemotherapy can be used to kill off the spreading cancer cells, stem cells are notoriously resistant to such treatments. As a result the rogue cancer stem cell does not die off and remains as a source creating new cancer cells.

 

 

By understanding how this stem cell works, we hope to find ways in which it can be targeted and thereby kill off the supply of cancer cells.

Prof David ArgyleRoyal (Dick) Vet School for Veterinary Studies

The research, published in The Veterinary Journal, involved looking at samples of cancer cells taken from dogs with osteosarcoma, a disease accounting for 85 per cent of bone tumours in dogs. The samples are also believed to be relevant to osteosarcoma in children and young adults because the disease in dogs is histologically and molecularly similar.

Professor David Argyle, who is to head up a new cancer centre at the Royal (Dick) Vet School for Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumour in dogs and in children. More than 80 per cent of children have to undergo surgery, which can include limb amputations or reconstructive limb sparing operations.

"However, radiotherapy and chemotherapy is not effective in killing off the rogue cancer stem cell that remains to make more cancer cells. By understanding how this stem cell works, we hope to find ways in which it can be targeted and thereby kill off the supply of cancer cells."

Causes of osteosarcoma

The cause of osteosarcoma, which can also be diagnosed in adults, is unknown. It is thought that children who have a hereditary retinoblastoma - a rare tumour of the eye - have an increased risk of developing the disease, as well as those who have previously received radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Osteosarcoma accounts for about two per cent of all cancers in children. The cancer often starts at the end of the bones, where new bone tissue forms as a young person grows.

Professor Argyle, who joined The University of Edinburgh two years ago after starting this research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "This disease is very aggressive, with the bone cancer spreading throughout the body. The rogue cancer stem cell is key in the whole process. We identified it by growing cells in particularly harsh conditions but, whereas other cancer cells died off, this stem cell was able to survive in an environment in which other cells died."

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