Cancer Stem Cell Drug to be Tested in Patients
BCRF researcher Michael Clarke, MD, identified breast cancer stem cells in 1994. His discovery sparked a new line of reasoning about the tenacity of cancer.
Now, a drug that was developed for Alzheimer's disease but has been proven to kill breast cancer stem cells in laboratory studies will be given to 30 women with advanced breast cancer, the New York Times reported in an article on 12/21/07.
The study, led by Clarke's colleague, Dr. Max S. Wicha of the University of Michigan, will test the safety of this drug and help further determine stem cells' role in cancer. While the stem cell hypothesis as a cause in cancer has been debated since Clarke and Wicha established their existence, BCRF's Dr. Robert Weinberg of MIT told the New York Times that theirs "...is conceptually the most important paper in cancer in the past decade."
Read more about BCRF-funded research under the direction of Dr. Michael Clarke and Dr. Robert Weinberg.
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