Slashdot Mirror
Protein Converts Pancreatic Cancer Cells Back Into Healthy Cells
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists working in the area of pancreatic cancer research have uncovered a technique that sees cancerous cells transform back into normal healthy cells. The method relies in the introduction of a protein called E47, which bonds with particular DNA sequences and reverts the cells back to their original state. The study (abstract) was a collaboration between researchers at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, University of California San Diego and Purdue University. The scientists are hopeful that it could help combat the deadly disease in humans.
I should hope we do.
Pissing about curing someone's sniffle that'll be gone tomorrow when we could have spent that time/money pushing cancer research - no matter how slow and small a contribution - seems a bloody bad trade-off.
The cure for a cold is to wait 2 weeks.
But my memory of what's special about Pancreatic Cancer - is that you are f*cked to a high degree of certainty if you get it.
Not the most common type of cancer, and there are many types of it - but for those with this cancer, in this place, it's pretty damn important as there weren't a surfeit of alternatives.