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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.
The problem is that neither cancer nor cold are of "common" types: there are quite a few types of each.
One man's cancer could be quite different from another man's, even if they are both found at the same place in the body. The pancreatic cancer mentioned in the article is only one type of pancreatic cancer, although it is the most common form that would originally form there. Cancer in the pancreas could also be another type of cancer that was formed elsewhere and metastasized.
Similarly, there are many different viruses that can cause "cold".
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
While I doubt that's the exact medical terminology used, it's quite correct.
The five year survival rate is only 6% although it apparently can get up to ~20% in limited circumstances.
If this works as well hoped, it would be a rather big deal because right now it's practically a death sentence.