Researchers have detected cancer stem cells in tumors from patients with pancreatic cancer. Experiments in mice suggest that these cancer stem cells may help explain the aggressive growth and spread of pancreatic tumors seen in patients, the researchers report in the February 1 Cancer Research.

Cancer stem cells have been identified in blood, brain, and breast cancers, and more recently in ovarian and colon cancers. The new findings provide further support for the stem cell hypothesis, the theory that some tumors contain small populations of self-renewing cells that give rise to all of the cells in the tumor. Read more  

One of the most important changes being instituted as part of the restructuring of the NCI Office of the Director is the new direction of the Director's Consumer Liaison Group (DCLG).

DCLG is supported through the Office of Liaison Activities (to be renamed the Office of Advocacy Relations under the reorganization), which will report directly to the NCI director. As a result of that direct reporting relationship, DCLG will now be on par with the institute's other major advisory committees, the National Cancer Advisory Board, the Board of Scientific Advisors, the Board of Scientific Counselors and the Clinical Trials Advisory Committee (CTAC).  Read more  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.