High-Throughput Screening Finds Potential Killer of Cancer Stem Cells

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The search for agents that target and kill cancer stem cells is on. In August, researchers reported in Cell that high-throughput screening could be used to identify drugs that target these cells, notorious for their resistance to existing treatments and their putative ability to generate new tumors.

Killing cancer stem cells may be the key to preventing cancer's recurrence, say researchers who have confidence in the cancer stem cell model of carcinogenesis. The model holds that only a specific subset of cancer cells can give rise to new cells or metastases, and some say this explains why cancers can seem to disappear after treatment and then recur with a vengeance. However, there is a debate about how relevant such cells are to cancer treatment and even whether they exist ( see related article, News, J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2009;101:546–7). Those who believe that the model oversimplifies the complexity of human cancers are wary of this study's results.