(Los Angeles, CA) -- Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles have made an important cancer discovery. They've found what they call a "cell of origin" for prostate cancer. The scientists at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA say basal cells found in benign prostate tissue was found to develop into human prostate cancer in mice with suppressed immune systems. One researcher said the discovery turns prostate cancer thinking on its head because it was previously thought to begin in another type of cell. The discovery could lead to improved treatments for the cancer along with improved ability to diagnose the disease.
More than 217-thousand men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. Thirty-two-thousand will die from the disease.
