Gastric cancer originating from bone marrow-derived cells.

Houghton, Jeanmarie; Stoicov, Calin; Nomura, Sachiyo; Rogers, Arlin B; Carlson, Jane; Li, Hanchen; Cai, Xun; Fox, James G et al. · Science · 2004

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Epithelial cancers are believed to originate from transformation of tissue stem cells. However, bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs), which are frequently recruited to sites of tissue injury and inflammation, might also represent a potential source of malignancy. We show that although acute injury, acute inflammation, or transient parietal cell loss within the stomach do not lead to BMDC recruitment, chronic infection of C57BL/6 mice with Helicobacter, a known carcinogen, induces repopulation of the stomach with BMDCs. Subsequently, these cells progress through metaplasia and dysplasia to intraepithelial cancer. These findings suggest that epithelial cancers can originate from marrow-derived sources and thus have broad implications for the multistep model of cancer progression.

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