Stomach Cancer May Start In Bone Marrow

Stomach cancer may originate from bone marrow cells rather than stomach cells, as was previously believed. A new study in mice found that stomach cancer cells began as bone marrow cells that had migrated to the stomach. The bone marrow cells traveled to the stomach in response to inflammation caused by an infection with the bacterium that causes ulcers, Helicobacter pylori. These findings, published in the Nov. 26 issue of Science, are in stark contrast to the commonly held belief that cancers originate from the tissue in the surrounding area, meaning that it was believed that stomach cancer begins from stomach stem cells.