By plotting the lifetime incidence of various cancers against the estimated number of normal
stem cell divisions in the corresponding tissues over a lifetime, they found a strong correlation extending over five orders of magnitude.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have found the first direct evidence that cells can distinguish between seemingly identical copies of chromosomes
during stem cell division, pointing to the possibility that distinct information on the chromosome copies might underlie the diversification of cell types.
Plotting the total number of
stem cell divisions over a lifetime against the lifetime risk of cancer in 31 different organs revealed a correlation.
«Given what we know now about feedback loops, it would be important to integrate the surrounding cells in therapeutic approaches too, since they exert a strong influence
on stem cell division,» the scientist confirms.
Yukiko Yamashita, a developmental biologist at the University of Michigan Medical School, explores the biochemical, structural, and molecular genetic mechanisms that
regulate stem cell division.
The study, which was led by postdoc Gregor Pilz and PhD student Sara Bottes, used in vivo 2 - photon imaging and genetic labeling of neural stem cells in order to
observe stem cell divisions as they happened, and to follow the maturation of new nerve cells for up to two months.
«
Neural stem cell divisions appear to be much more asymmetric than we had previously anticipated,» states Darcie Moore, postdoc in the group of Sebastian Jessberger and lead author of the study.
But as of now we are only just beginning to understand the molecular constituents and the true meaning of the barrier
for stem cell division in the brain.»
Instead,
most stem cell divisions produce offspring fated to develop into neurons, reducing the number of stem cells remaining.
Publishing in Science a group of researchers studied the relationship between the number of
normal stem cell divisions and the risk of 17 cancer types in 69 countries.
Tomasetti found that there are about 1012
stem cell divisions in the colon over a lifetime, compared with 1010 in the duodenum.
(A correlation of 1 means that by knowing the variable on the x-axis — in this case, the lifetime number
of stem cell divisions — one can predict the y - axis value 100 % of the time.)
Thus, Tomasetti and Vogelstein reasoned, the tissues that host the greatest number of
stem cell divisions are those most vulnerable to cancer.
Tomasetti and Vogelstein conclude that these differences can be explained by the number of
stem cell divisions.
Squaring that 0.81 gives 0.65 — an indicator of how much of the variation in cancer risk in a tissue is explained by variation in
stem cell divisions (see graph above).
The research placed a stringent upper limit on the stem cell activity that could exist in the mouse ovary and escape detection — one
stem cell division every two weeks, which is an insignificant level.
«
Stem cell divisions in the adult brain seen for the first time.»
Among other things, her work has helped illuminate the mechanisms underlying the loss of control over
stem cell division, which is regarded as a cause of many human diseases.
This division has to be «asymmetric,» meaning that only one of the two cells generated during
the stem cell division goes on to differentiate, while the other cell remains a stem cell.
«Is there a limit to the number of
stem cell divisions, and does that imply that there's a limit to human life?»
Whether this recovery of tissue stem cell numbers is due to a replenishment of the stem cell pool from more differentiated cells, or due to an increase in «asymmetric»
stem cell divisions that allow one stem cell to generate two new ones, remains to be answered, he said.
Sebastian Jessberger says: «This is an exciting new mechanism involved in
stem cell division and aging.
Analysis linking number of
stem cell divisions to different cancer risks suggests most cancer cases can't be prevented
u Christian Tomasetti and Bert Vogelstein, «Variation in Cancer Risk among Tissues Can Be Explained by the Number of
Stem Cell Divisions,» Science, Vol.
In the journal Nature on Sept. 6, three science teams reported a major link between tumor suppression and
stem cell division.