Provided is the use of a pharmaceutical composition in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a solid tumor in a subject characterized by excessive or misregulated cellular proliferation of at least one targeted cell type selected from the group consisting of a targeted tumor stem cell and a targeted tumor progenitor cell, the pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutic amount of at least one agent selected from the group consisting of a Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) preparation, and a molecule capable of increasing BMP receptor (BMPR)-mediated signalling in the targeted tumor stem cell or targeted tumor progenitor cell (Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor (BMPR) signalling activator) in the targeted tumor stem cell or targeted tumor progenitor cell, wherein the therapeutic amount of the agent is effective to suppress the excessive or misregulated cellular proliferation of the tumor stem cell or the tumor progenitor cell by irreversibly reducing at least one of size, clonogenic index, or growth rate of the population of targeted tumor stem cells or targeted tumor progenitor cells.
