Starving Cancer With the Help of Stem Cells
Blood vessels are the body’s plumbing system, delivering the oxygen and nutrients that all cells—including cancer cells—need to thrive. Dr. Andras Nagy, Canada Research Chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration, is interested in manipulating blood vessels as a potential cancer treatment.
A growth factor called VEGF is essential for the growth of blood vessels. Blocking VEGF with drugs starves the cells fed by the vessels. This is good news if the cells in question are cancerous, but there are potentially serious side effects to suppressing blood vessels. One might, for example, damage healthy tissue and organs. Nagy works on suppressing only the blood vessels that feed tumours by concentrating a drug around a tumour.
This is just one example of Nagy’s work using genome-modification techniques and stem cell-based approaches. A pioneer in stem cell research, he developed the first two Canadian human embryonic stem cell lines, which are now freely available to Canadian and international researchers. These lines opened up a new era of research. Today, using state-of-the-art genetics to create models for human disease, Nagy is at the forefront of stem cell-based therapies for diseases that are currently incurable.