The IIT-Madras researchers have found that stem cells obtained using microgravity could be used to understand the nature of cancer cells, their proliferation and cell death pathways, which could help in identification of target zones for cancer research
and drug development.
A release from IIT-M here on Tuesday, its researchers have found that subjecting cancer cells to microgravity results in the formation of giant cancer cells with stem-cell characteristics, could conceivably be used for cancer research and drug development.
Stem cells were difficult to isolate and grow. Cancer Stem Cells (CSC) generally make up just one per cent to three per cent of all cells in a tumour, it said.
Research was being conducted all over the world to extract and culture CSCs for cancer understanding and drug development. The research was led by Prof Rama S Verma, Stem Cell and Molecular
Biology Laboratory, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, IIT-Madras. Prof Verma’s paper was co-authored by his students Raj Pranap Arun,
Divya Sivanesan, Bamadeb Patra and Sudha Varadaraj. The results of this work have recently been published in scientific reports, belonging to the prestigious peer-reviewed Nature Group of journals. (UNI)
Cancer cells with stem cell characteristics useful for cancer research : IIT-M
