HOUSTON, Nov 03, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Texas researchers have created a system to deliver anti-cancer treatments directly to a tumor without hurting surrounding tissue.

The new technique uses the cells that naturally help heal injuries. When the body is wounded it signals mesenchymal stem cells. These cells migrate to the damaged areas, surround them, and morph into the types of cells needed to repair the wound.

Tumors also send signals to these cells but they use them to build connective tissue that structurally supports and nurtures the tumor's growth.

Researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center isolated and cultured mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow. They then introduced a gene that fights cancer into the cells and fed the engineered cells back into the body via intravenous injection. The cells imbed themselves into the tumor and activated the therapeutic gene, attacking the tumor.

The therapy could potentially treat cancer no matter where it has spread.

The study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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