Identified Gene which Turn Stem Cells Cancerous

Stem cells are a special type of cell that could derive into almost anything given the right “condition.” They can evolve into any necessary cell needed in a developing human embryo or in adult with damage cells. Aside from the problem with the stem cells source, embryonic, another obstacle is uncontrollable cellular division. This sometime led to cancer. Therefore “by identifying a mechanism that regulates programmed cell death in precursor cells for blood or hematopoietic stem cells,” “scientist can balance stem cells' regenerative power against their potentially lethal potency.” A recent research from Maria Garcia-Fernandez and Hermann Steller, head of the Strang Laboratory of Apoptosis and Cancer Biology, found an “activity of a gene called Sept4 which encodes a protein, ARTS, that increases programmed cell death, or apoptosis.” After many experimental tests, Steller suggests that the premature silencing of the Sept4/ARTS pathway at the stem cell level may herald cancer to develop. By the identification of “the ARTS gene and its role in cancer cell death, it provides a potential target for new therapeutic approaches.”

I found this article to be interesting because it address the issue of controlling stem cells during it different differentiations. As we discuses about neurophysiology in class, there are many neuro-genetic diseases. Most are incurable despite today medical advancement. A general proposal of a cure for these diseases is stem cells. Yet, scientists still haven’t truly control stem cell differentiation into needed component or stopping it from differentiating. I hope that one day we can find a way to completely control stem cell differentiations.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204782.php