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Genetic Engineers Working to Reverse Cancer
An anonymous reader writes "Using a patient's own modified white blood cells, a team of researchers at the National Cancer Institute has reversed advanced melanoma in a study of 17 patients. The researchers tweaked the blood to recognize and attack cancer cells, and the head of the National Institutes of Health, Elias Zerhounibut, says there's big hope now that other common cancers, like breast and lung cancer, can be similarly treated. Though only 2 of the 17 patients responded successfully to the treatment, researchers are optimistic that future improvements on the technique will improve that rate of success." From the article: "In the study, Rosenberg and his colleagues took lymphocytes from the blood and inserted into them genes for a receptor capable of 'recognizing' a protein on melanoma cells called MART-1. This would allow the lymphocyte to attach to a tumor cell and kill it. The patients, all of whom had previously undergone surgery and immune-based treatments, got chemotherapy to temporarily wipe out their immune systems. The engineered cells were then reinjected, with the hope they would proliferate as the immune system recovered."
I'm only 26 and I remember when coke and pepsi came in glass bottles...I imagine there are a lot of people alive today that have never seen anything other than plastic coke and pepsi bottles. I even remember the car dealership we used to go to when I was little - it had a glass bottle vending machine. each bottle was on its side with its cap pointing out towards you. Each bottle was had spring loaded mechanical fingers around the bottle neck, which were locked most of the time. You put in money and it would "unlock" the bottles, open a door, and pull out a bottle. Once you pulled one bottle out they would all lock again. I wonder if you could pull two out at the same time?
> Basically if the human race can do two things: 1) Regrow organs that have worn out and 2) cure cancer, we'll live for a very long time.
No, some people in the rich west will live for a very long time.
Want to guess how many people in sub saharan africa will benefit from this ? When people die from hunger because the food aid can't get through, because the local warlord won't let it, then cancer is the least of their worries.
Don't get me wrong, I think that a cure for cancer is great, but it's not a panacea for all that ails mankind.
We (all of us) will live a lot longer when we (all of us) learn to curb our greed, and realise that more is not always better. When laws are fair and just, as well as leagally correct, and when we (all of us) stop living by taking advantage of others.
Don't expect utopia any time soon.
http://davesboat.blogspot.com/