Matt D. answered 05/02/19
MCAT Mastery: 100th Percentile CARS, 100th Percentile PHYS/CHEM
A key difference between a normal pluripotent stem cell and a cancer cell is the way in which gene expression is controlled. While both are immortal, pluripotent embryonic stem cells go down a specific differentiation pathway that guides their gene expression in a normal and healthy way. Cancer cells have an aggressive, somewhat out-of-control gene expression pattern, which also involves inappropriate hyper- and/or hypo-methylation of disease/immune associated gene regions. Hopefully that helps answer your question! -Matt