Can/Have cancer cells be/been used in stem cell culture lines?

Question

Since Cancer cells have unlimited growth potential, can they be induced towards totipotency and pluripotency? so, can cancer cells be used in stem cell culture because of similar properties of unlimited replication?\nCan they be used in cell lines to culture viruses even?

Answer 1

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