Uncommon cancer gets start in muscle cells
By Nathan Seppa
A cancer thought to arise in joint tissue instead forms in nascent muscle cells, a study in mice shows. By creating for the first time an animal that develops this cancer, known as synovial sarcoma, the researchers clear the way for similar research into other sarcomas and for possible drug development.
Synovial sarcoma is so named because it arises near the synovium, the membrane that makes the lubricant for joints. Not all cancers readily reveal their cells of origin, however, and previous studies hadn’t established that the cells of this cancer begin as synovial cells.