>> Radiation and traditional chemotherapy drugs tend to target cells that are dividing quickly and creating large numbers of new cells. Because this rapid division is the trademark of an active cancer, these treatments are generally effective at shrinking the size of tumors -- the traditional measure of effectiveness.
Stem cells, by contrast, are usually slow to divide. When a stem cell does divide, it can create long-lived copies of itself -- thus ensuring its ''immortality." But a stem cell can also create cells known as progenitor cells that have the power to create a group of new cells that quickly expand in number. Cancer therapies that kill only these quickly dividing cells may appear successful in the short term, but leave the more important stem cells unharmed. … Drugs that target cancer stem cells, scientists said, could be used in combination with traditional chemotherapies to heighten their effect. They might also be used in combination with drugs designed to disrupt the ability of tumors to attract the new blood vessels they need to survive, a process called angiogenesis. ... Although many aspects of cancer stem cells are still poorly understood -- and only a few types have been identified -- it may not be necessary to understand them well to tame them, said Dr. Todd R. Golub, director of the cancer program at the Broad Institute and an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. For example, he said, if a therapy can efficiently destroy all of the direct offspring of the stem cells, then the cancer can be held in check, making it a manageable chronic disease rather than an unpredictable killer. <<
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