Ever since I got the idea for this regular column a year ago, I’ve been collecting links of cool new technologies or interesting advances in various fields. After having recently sorted through the list, I found that the largest category of links so far is in the field of medical advances. I don’t know if I unconsciously gravitate towards these links because of my desire to live forever, or that the medical environment is better at marketing themselves, but one thing’s for sure: medical research is advancing at an incredible, if not accelerating rate. It’s simply fascinating.
Today we’ll take a quick look at the landscape of cancer research. The improvements in the treatment of cancer over the last thirty years have been astounding. People live longer, the rates of recovery are ever increasing, but the fact remains that cancer is responsible for 25% of the deaths in developed countries, and 13% of deaths worldwide — a grim statistic.
Medical researchers are investing a lot of time and money in learning how to block the growth of cancer. There have been several interesting findings in 2008 that should instill hope that we are on the path of curing cancer once and for all:
- Scientists at Harvard Medical School have identified “identified an enzyme which enables cancer cells to consume the huge quantities of glucose they need to fuel uncontrolled growth”. When the cells are forced to produce an alternative enzyme, the cancer cells quickly stemmed their growth. This research was done on lab mice, but we could soon see tests on human patients.
- A 52-year-old man in the UK with skin cancer was injected with his own immune cells, and within two months, all the man’s tumors vanished from his body. This was done as part of experimental therapy using a complex technique, but is extremely promising. The cells were extracted from the body, cloned, then re-injected. These newly injected cells immediately attacked the cancer cells, and soon the entire immune system picked up on the attack and followed suit. Have a look at the article, it’s a great read.
- The article title’s a bit sensationalist (“Cancer Cured?”), but the research discussed within the article is once more very promising. It involves again taking white blood cells known to attack cancer and injecting them into afflicted patients. The tests run by the scientists involved taking white blood cells known as granulocytes from a cancer-resistant mouse and transfusing them to cancer-infected mice. In their lab tests, they managed to cure 100% of the mice. The best part of this is that this treatment which has been researched for the last ten years is now ready for full human trials.
- One last interesting link for today: “Researchers at Yale University have found that a virus that’s in the same family as rabies effectively kills an aggressive form of human brain cancer in mice”. It’s an interesting and non-conventional use of an organism we usually spend time fighting and using it for our cause. This method is not ideal as it requires weakening the immune system of the host (in order to let the virus survive), but it opens many possibilities of novel use of viruses and DNA manipulation to create effectively a cancer destroying agent.
So, I know cancer isn’t the most uplifting subject to discuss when trying to project an amazing future, but it is a fact of life and one of humankind’s greatest challenges moving forward as a species. I believe we will eventually tackle it completely.
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