Letters

Re: cancer stem cells.1,2 Recently we have reported a novel type of cell division involved in the origin and growth of cancers.3,4 Termed neosis, this type of cell division occurs only in senescent polyploid giant cells and never in normal diploid cells. Up to 10% of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo are polyploid, and so far there is no explanation of their role in cancer. These resemble senescent cells, which are thought to be part of the tumor suppressor mechanism.

We have shown that such cells have he potential to undergo neosis, a parasexual, somatic reduction division characterized by karyokinesis via nuclear budding followed by asymmetric cytokinesis, giving rise to aneuploid or near diploid daughter cells termed Raju cells (Raju means king or leader in the Telugu language). The latter cells are unique in that they transiently display stem cell properties, have inherited genomic instability, have the ...