http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100325151342.htm
About 40 percent of children and up to 70 percent of adults in remission from acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) will have a relapse. In recent years, doctors have come to believe that this is due to leukemia stem cells, endlessly replicating cancer cells that generate the immature blood cells characteristic of leukemia and are resistant to typical cancer treatments. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have found a possible way to kill off these cells, and prevent them from initiating a relapse. The study, published online March 26th in the journal Science, shows that leukemia stem cells cannot thrive without a particular cell pathway, known as the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, suggesting that targeting this pathway may prevent the growth and development of AML.
Scott Armstrong's (senior author of the study) work is funded in part by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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