Another biggest breakthrough development has been made by scientists researching upon stem cells in a perfect manner. Perhaps, the opinion upon stem cells have been changed completely after it was discovered that they release and channelize chemicals that put an end to cancer cells, furnishing a platform to combat specifically hard to identify tumors.

Stem cells have become a focal point of recent medical studies for their capability to change into the cells that help in creating the body's organs. They also can be morphed to create Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE), a chemical that is lethal to brain tumors cells.

PE can already be created outside the body and considered as a means of taking over brain cancer, but this process has been found to have restrictions. Dr. Khalid Shah of Harvard Medical School explained, “Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they don't work as well in solid tumors because the cancers aren't as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life."

Perhaps, major turnarounds too have been caused in the medical field because of the consideration of several aspects in this regard. To get a perfect cure for this problem, Shah decided to identify a means to keep on producing the effective anti-cancer agents, preferably while having reached into the tumors' core.

In Stem Cells, Shah has met with success, at least with mice for sure.

“A few years ago we recognized that stem cells could be used to continuously deliver these therapeutic toxins to tumors in the brain, but first we needed to genetically engineer stem cells that could resist being killed themselves by the toxins,” Shah opines. “Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs.”

The biggest advantage is that PE will expedite any cell it can get inside, but other labs have been equally successful enough in making it and various other cytotoxins that get into the cancer cells but be resisted by normal cells.

Shah has proceeded ahead with a step further, avoiding the PE from acting while it is inside the stem cell that creates it. “We tested these stem cells in a clinically relevant mouse model of brain cancer, where you resect the tumors and then implant the stem cells encapsulated in a gel into the resection cavity,” Shah maintains.  “After doing all of the molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis within brain tumors, we do see the toxins kill the cancer cells and eventually prolonging the survival in animal models of brain tumors.”

Before progressing towards the trials in humans, Shah prefers to develop treatments where the PE-producing stem cells function in tandem with other cancer-fighting stem cells his lab has produced.

Prior to this year Shah declared the use of stem cells moving along with biological, rather than chemical weaponry. That project effectively made use of the stem cells that carry the herpes virus to brain cancers in mice. Perhaps, it is indeed a great achievement realized in recent times that will change the medical standards in treating cancer to the core.