Hemangiomas and Stem Cells
Hemangiomas, noncancerous birthmarks resembling strawberries affect 4 to 10 percent of infants and are commonly harmless. However, hemangioma consisting of tangled blood vessels can result in destruction of the tissue and lead to vision or breathing difficulties in about 10 percent of cases. The tumors are treated by corticosteroids such as prednisone and dexamethasone since the 1960′s but corticosteroids are not always effective and may cause different side effects including growth retardation, swelling in the face, high blood pressure and hyperactivity. In addition, the mode of action of corticosteroids has remained unknown.
Corticosteroids were believed to target the endothelial cells which make up approximately 30 percent of the tumor cells but the researchers at the Children’s Hospital Boston have discovered that that is not the case. The research published in The New England Journal of Medicine on March 18, 2010, has shown that corticosteroids act on stem cells of hemangioma by inhibiting their ability to induce growth of blood vessels. This is achieved by inhibiting production of the VEGF, a factor which is responsible for stimulating the growth of blood vessels in malignant tumors and macular degeneration. Thus the researchers at the Children’s Hospital Boston finally managed to reveal the mode of action of corticosteroids as well as propose new and safer ways to inhibit and shrink the hemangioma by targeting the stem cells.
The earlier studies have shown that hemangiomas may develop as a result of an embryonic mutation in a stem cell which in turn results in disturbance of normal development of blood vessels. Thus targeting the stem cell – inhibiting its proliferation, preventing its differentiation into undesired blood vessels and eliminating the source of the VEGF-A may significantly limit the growth of hemangioma.
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