Stem Cells and Cancer: Friend or Foe?, Papers of Literature

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Stem Cells: Our Enemy or the Cure? Faith Darst Department of English, NC State University ENG 101-060: Academic Writing and Research Ms. Carrero October 23, 2023

Stem Cells: Our Enemy or the Cure? Stem cells have been used to treat cancer since the 1960s. Since then, scientists have found that a stem cell transplant will help a cancer patient’s body recover after chemotherapy or radiation therapy (“Stem Cells Repair Tissues and Regenerate Cells”). What if I told you that this method does not actually aid the body’s recovery? Cancer is a disease that mutates and acts differently depending on where in the body it afflicts, as well as many other variables. As a result, we do not know much about it or how to treat it effectively and consistently. What if I told you one of our only known treatments for cancer was as inconsistent as cancer itself and actually amplified the effects of cancerous cells? (“Difference between Embryonic and Adult Stem Cells”) How does cancer emerge? Cancer is caused by genetic changes, or mutations, that cause body cells to multiply uncontrollably or withstand more than they are supposed to. With cells growing and dividing at a

the tumor’s growth by developing into cancer cells and working against the patient’s treatment (“Stem Cell Transplants in Cancer Treatment”). Do they work? An experiment performed in Shanghai in 2020 focused on a particular type of stem cell called mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs. These MSCs can develop into various types of cells, primarily fat cells. They are typically found in bone marrow, but this study also experimented with MSCs collected from fat tissue and placental tissue. Due to the varying test results on cancer over the years, the scientific community is split on how MSCs respond when exposed to cancer cells. Xiaoying Ma, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, writes, “It is still controversial whether the exogenous MSCs promote or inhibit tumor growth” (2020). Using mice as their test subjects, Ma and her team observed the effects of the three different types of MSCs on tumorous growths. They did this by artificially growing tumors on the mice and then injecting the different MSCs into them. What is their conclusion? The natural, environmental role of MSCs is a double one when it comes to its response to tumor exposure. Therefore, Ma’s research only supports the scientific community’s uncertainty about the effectiveness of stem cells as treatment. Whether or not stem cells will truly treat cancer seems to be a coin flip. Is there hope for our cancer-afflicted loved ones? Recent studies show that MSCs, most commonly found in the colon, are prone to improve the environment for tumor cells. Also, MSCs secrete molecules that stimulate the spreading of cancer cells, acting like an infection. Hearing that one of the few known treatments for cancer is counteractive certainly is not comforting. Thankfully, Ma and other colleagues in

Shanghai discovered that MSCs collected from fat tissue and placental tissue have specific genes that allow them to be more easily genetically modified so that they suppress tumor growth. This means that an MSC’s "infectious" characteristics can be modified to work against cancer cells. If all goes according to plan, transplanted MSCs will develop into healthy body cells and multiply, “infecting” the body with regenerative cells (Ma et al.). Reconsidering their effectiveness with this information, stem cells remain to be a viable option for treating post-chemotherapy patients. Perhaps scientists will also discover other biological carcinogens that can be modified to fight cancer. Although cancer will remain a relevant disease as long as people fall victim to it, more research will continue to be done until a cure is found for every type of cancer that emerges. Until then, there will always be hope for our cancer-afflicted loved ones.

Reflection Because of my growing interest in stem cells and cancer treatment, I chose to adapt an article in that field of study. Additionally, cancer is always a relevant topic for research, as we do not know much about it and have yet to find a “cure” or a treatment that will work indefinitely. What stood out to me in this particular article was that the abstract mentioned how a type of stem cell could make cancer worse. This conflicted with what I had heard about stem cells in the past, as I had heard that stem cells only healed, so I decided to look into it further. After the abstract, I read the results and discussion sections, and then I skimmed the methods section. In the end, I found this experiment and the findings to be interesting and relevant to what I wanted to write about. My intended audience is high school students that are studying the natural sciences but are not too experienced yet. I chose this audience because I remember how helpful it was in high school to find articles explaining complicated concepts in a way that was easy to understand. To communicate with my intended audience effectively, I used some words that would be considered “scientific jargon,” but I defined them clearly. This will educate my audience as well as communicate with them in terms they understand. While I was writing, I imagined my article being published in Nature magazine. The style of Nature is fairly informal yet informative, and it is a reliable source to update yourself on recent scientific news. When reading that magazine, it is clear that the goal is to communicate scientific findings clearly and simply for the general public. Taking inspiration from Nature ’s style of writing, I tried to explain somewhat complex topics covered in my scientific article concisely and easily. Keeping in mind that my audience has probably heard basic information about stem cells and how cancer emerges, my intention

was to not dumb down the information too much. Reminding myself that my intended audience is high school students that want to be treated like adults, I made sure to introduce new concepts as well, specifically MSCs, which stands for mesenchymal stem cells. However, the majority of high school students have not left the common core education, so I made sure to explain the “new” concepts thoroughly and simply. I found that articles in Nature typically have clickbait titles to grab the audience’s attention, so I wanted to follow suit and make the title for my stem cell article sound dramatic. Many of the articles also had subheadings to denote what the following paragraphs would focus on. This inspired me to have subheadings to section off my paragraphs and to have each subheading be a question that a reader would likely have when reading the article. The subheadings being questions rather than statements also shows how it is normal to ask questions related to cancer, as the scientific community still does not understand cancer completely. Nature also has at least one relevant image with each article to make the article more appealing to interested readers. This is why I included a simple graphic illustrating the organs that stem cells can reinforce. To establish credibility, I introduced background information about cancer and challenged the audience’s prior knowledge on stem cells. I avoided being vague about where I found my information by avoiding writing something like “A study found–” or “A scientific discovery tells us–.” Instead, I quoted one of the writers of the scientific article and established her credibility by mentioning that she is “a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering.” Additionally, I found and cited my background information on cancer and stem cells on .gov, .org, or scientific journal websites. Appealing to my audience’s emotions, I wrote about the relevance of cancer and how much of a threat it is since it mutates and because we do