Editorial
Vaccination with induced pluripotent stem cells confers protection against cancer
Abstract
“… I’m just a kid again doing what I did again…”
The old lyric (from “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along”) might be used to describe the origins of many types of cancer. In this case, the kid might be a mutated stem cell and cancers arising from it may replay many events in embryogenesis including the formation of trophoblasts, the associated development of a dedicated (if somewhat chaotic) vasculature and migration (metastasis). Now it is becoming likely that early embryonic gene products—absent in adult organisms—might be useful for the production of broad spectrum prophylactic cancer vaccines.
The old lyric (from “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along”) might be used to describe the origins of many types of cancer. In this case, the kid might be a mutated stem cell and cancers arising from it may replay many events in embryogenesis including the formation of trophoblasts, the associated development of a dedicated (if somewhat chaotic) vasculature and migration (metastasis). Now it is becoming likely that early embryonic gene products—absent in adult organisms—might be useful for the production of broad spectrum prophylactic cancer vaccines.
