DailyDirt: The Fight Against Cancer Continues…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There have been some pretty wild treatments for cancer, from modifying HIV and creating a gene therapy approach… to using genetically-engineered bacteria or radiation to attack cancer cells. Over the years, there have been quite a few promising studies that haven’t amounted to practical treatments. There will probably never be a silver bullet, but until medicine figures out how to beat a lot more cancers, there’s always more research to be done.
- Reprogramming cancer cells can make them normal cells again, providing a potential cancer treatment. The discovery of how to turn off the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells will need more time to develop into a practical cancer therapy, but this is encouraging work towards a fundamental understanding and possible cure. [url]
- Aspirin (aka “wonder drug”) seems to keep finding more uses. It’s not just a headache medicine or a drug that can prevent the risk of heart attacks, but it might also help boost the effectiveness of some cancer treatments. [url]
- An implantable “cancer sponge” could soak up rogue cancer cells before they spread to other organs and give doctors a better early warning detection system. The implant is made from an FDA-approved material already used in surgical sutures, and it seems to work in mice studies. Obviously, it’ll take a while before human studies are complete, but this could be a much more convenient and less risky way to detect cancer in its earliest stages. [url]
After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
Filed Under: aspirin, cancer, gene therapy, gmo, health, implants, medicine, treatment
Comments on “DailyDirt: The Fight Against Cancer Continues…”
Cancer has taken far too many people. Where is the ice bucket challenge for cancer?
Re: Re:
“Cancer” is a balloon term for hundreds, if not thousands, of different cellular dysfunctions and systemic diseases.
While some treatments are nearly universal (if there is a big lump get a scalpel, if things grow fast give the patient poison) the specific prevention, treatment and diagnosis methods can be as varied as the “cancer” events themselves.
Not that there shouldn’t be work done, it’s just that it’s hard to throw money at the problem and see results in a timeframe that people want.
Maybe I’m too cynical, but every time I hear about these “breakthroughs”, I think back to an article I read many years ago. A doctor was treating a patient badly in need of a heart transplant. He wasn’t expected to live more than a few months.
The doctor attached a small external pump and then disconnected the heart, so that it was no longer beating. It was still alive, just sitting idle in the patient’s chest. After a month or two the doctor opened him back and up and found that the heart had healed itself almost to perfect condition. He removed the pump, reconnected the heart and the patient had no more immediate heart problems.
The article closed by saying that they expected this new treatment to save hundreds or even thousands of people who were currently only treatable by having a transplant.
And in the years since then, this miracle “breakthrough” seems to have completely disappeared.
And then...
There is marijuana, the latest “cancer killer”! It both makes you better, and makes you feel better!