Bangalore: Dr Amit Verma, associate professor of Medicine and developmental and molecular biology at Albert Einstein College in New York has come up with a path-breaking innovation in the field of cancer, along with other U.S. researchers. He has found out that the reason behind the rare blood disease known as myelo-dysplastic syndromes (MDS) are some abnormal stem cells, which activates the development and progression of the disease.

The research team conducted experiments by comparing the bone marrow of cancer patients with that of healthier ones. Fragments of genetic material were missing from the stem cells of patients and some changes were also observed in these genetic material. These changes can result in contradictory consequences, like silencing genes which are supposed to be active and vice-versa.

"The stem cells in this disease are genetically defective. After treatment the cells survive in the bone marrow. Eventually they grow and the disease comes back," Verma said. "We have also found a gene called stat3 which is present at elevated levels in stem cells of people with these disorders.

“Researchers have suspected that MDS is a ‘stem cell disease’ and now we finally have proof,” says Dr Verma. “Equally important, we found that even after standard treatment of MDS, abnormal stem cells persist in the bone marrow. So, although the patient may be in remission, those stem cells do not die and the disease will inevitably return. Based on our findings, it’s clear that we need to wipe out the abnormal stem cells in order to improve cure rates.’’

The research paper has been published in the journal named ‘Blood’.