Doctors make cancer breakthrough

The discovery could help to treat the root cause of prostate cancer

A breakthrough has been made in the treatment of prostate cancer, according to Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Professor Norman Maitland and Dr Anne Collins said they had discovered how to isolate the root of the disease - tumour stem cells.

It is hoped the discovery will help to develop therapies for treating stem cells to stop them regenerating.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men in the UK, with more than 30,100 new cases every year.

'Specific therapies'

Tumour stem cells make up one in 1,000 of cancer cells.

Prof Maitland, director of the Yorkshire Cancer Research unit at the University of York, said the discovery was the most exciting thing he had seen in 10 years.

"But we don't want to give people false hope, because the therapies for treating stem cells have still to be developed," he said.

"We are beginning to understand what they look like. We can now investigate specific therapies for killing the roots, rather than the leaves, of prostate cancer."

The research could also have implications for the treatment of other conditions where tumour stem cells occur, such as breast and colon cancers and in brain tumours.