Adult stem cells promote resistance to chemotherapy by releasing fatty acids that protect tumour cells.

Tumours recruit a class of adult stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells, which stimulate growth and promote metastasis. Emile Voest of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and his colleagues found that mesenchymal stem cells also induce resistance to the chemotherapy drug cisplatin.

The team identified two fatty acids released by mesenchymal stem cells that engender cisplatin resistance in mice. Blocking enzymes involved in the synthesis of these fatty acids prevented stimulation of cisplatin resistance by the stem cells, suggesting a new therapeutic target for the prevention of drug resistance in cancer.

Cancer Cell 20, 370–383 (2011)