A Cancer Breakthrough

[Valin]

Via Meadia

Jun 01, 2015

 

Researchers have made what looks like a once in a generation breakthrough in fighting cancer, advancing a technique that could become one of the pillars of oncology, next to surgery and chemotherapy. The technique enables the immune system, which ordinarily treats malignant cancer cells as if they were healthy, normal cells, to identify and attack tumors.

 

One of the first drugs developed to exploit this approach, ipilimumab, was approved four years ago and has shown successful results in about 19 percent of cases. But when administered alongside a new drug, nivolumab, the rate of remission shoots up to 58 percent. The Times of London:

 

(Snip)

 

Discoveries like these point to a bright future for medicine. The 21st-century is shaping up to be the century of biology, much like the 19th was the century of chemistry, and the 20th the century of physics. The fusion of information technology and biology is where the breakthroughs are happening. The inner workings of cells are at heart an intricate system for information processing and transmission; science is advancing quite rapidly in both fields. Medical treatments are just one of the many potential applications of this new technology.

 

 

More Here The Guardian

 

X-Posted Hinge of History

[Valin]

[nickydog]

 

I wonder if the NHS would give a person my age this treatment.

[Valin]

 

I wonder if the NHS would give a person my age this treatment.

 

 

 

Sorry you're just not economically viable anymore.

[Geee]

4 big developments in the fight to cure cancer

 

New developments in fighting cancer are just around the corner, but one expert believes the high price for potential life-saving treatments is arbitrary.

 

Oncology experts and doctors from around the world are meeting in Chicago for the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, which wraps up Tuesday. Researchers announced a slew of new results for treating cancer and discussed how they could be paid for.

 

Here are four top developments from the meeting so far:

 

1. Immunotherapy products show enormous potential

 

Drugs that boost the immune system to fight cancer cells are the showstoppers of the meeting, with several clinical trials showing promising results in tackling all types of cancers.

 

One such immunotherapy was examined for treating advanced liver cancer and another to treat patients with neck and head cancers, the organization said.

 

A new treatment profiled at the meeting showed promise in treating a condition called glioblastoma that causes brain tumors.

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/4-big-developments-in-the-fight-to-cure-cancer/article/2565418