A recent study done at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), published in the November issue of Cell Stem Cell [PMID:22056140] , successfully demonstrates a therapeutic strategy for targeting pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSC).  Their research shows that the Nodal/Activin pathway is critical for the self-renewal capacity and the stemness properties of pancreatic CSC.  In addition, Nodal/Activin is strongly expressed by pancreatic CSC, and also by pancreatic stellate cells (PSC).  PSC are abundant in the stroma that surrounds the pancreatic CSC, and may potentially be the supportive niche for these CSC.  They demonstrated that by targeting the stroma as well as the CSC they were able to effectively treat pancreatic cancer in a number of preclinical models.