Twins, one with leukemia, illustrate cancer stem cell hypothesis

Darkfrog submitted, created time 11 months 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

Cancer stem cell hypothesis is the idea that some cancers, including leukemia, are caused by a small number of cancer stem cells. Even if the majority of the tumor is removed of zapped with chemo, the cancer will recur unless the cancer stem cells are dispatched.

The twin girls in this study are fraternal, not identical, and one of them has leukemia and the other does not. However, a group of cells in the healthy girl, Isabella, seemed to match the ill girl, Olivia, implying that they were transferred to her while the two of them were developing. Some of these cells were removed

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