Slashdot Mirror
Matching Cancers With the Best Chemical Treatments
Roland Piquepaille writes "When oncologists meet a new patient affected by a cancer, they have to take decisions about the best possible treatment. Now, U.S. researchers have devised an algorithm which matches tumor profiles to best treatments. They've used a panel of 60 diverse human cancer cell lines from the National Cancer Institute — called NCI-60 — to develop their "coexpression extrapolation (COXEN) system." As said one researcher, "we believe we have found an effective way to personalize cancer therapy." Preliminary results have been encouraging and clinical trials are now planned."
Imagine this. You go to the supermarket. Right there, next to the pork chops and sirloin steaks, is a cancer. A real human cancer. No creature was ever killed for it, so it's even vegan and PETA would love it.
You take it home, grill it up, and... well how does it taste? Do different types of cancer have different flavors? Which ones are good?
The stuff is damn easy, too easy even, to grow. We might as well make use of it.
Replace int with long int to be more accurate. :-)