But there has never been a better time Expectations for cancer..There was no moment to do both prevention and treatment Different types of cancer It’s more possible. And as more and more of us are experiencing what looks like a real, God-honest cure, it’s time to retire from the concept of “cancer cure.”
“100% of unprecedented patients with rectal cancer who participated in small-scale immunotherapy clinical trials lost their cancer after immunotherapy.”
Last fall, the Cleveland Clinic Vaccine clinical trials With the ultimate goal of leaving Triple negative Breast cancer In high-risk patients.. In late May, the City of Hope Cancer Care and Research Center in Los Angeles and the Australian biotechnology company Imugene announced. Their first first clinical trial Use a cancer-killing virus in patients with advanced tumors.And earlier this week, there was amazing news from Memorial Sloan Kettering — an unprecedented 100% rectal cancer patient. Small-scale immunotherapy clinical trials Had their cancer “Disappears after immunotherapy — Does not require standard treatment of radiation, surgery, or chemotherapy. ”— The Trinity, which is extremely scary to endure, is known to patients as“ burns, burns, poisons ”.
So is the cure we’ve been waiting for right there? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple — because cancer isn’t.
Fortunately, “cure” is a less common phrase than in 1969, when cancer researcher Sydney Farber advertised a full-page ad in the Washington Post and challenged the president. “Mr. Nixon: You Can Cure Cancer” I read the advertisement. Just 10 years ago, the New York Times asked, “Is there a cure for the cancer in you?”
Since then, rhetoric has become more subtle, but the phrase refuses to disappear altogether.There are initiatives like Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure” and Wacoal’s “Fit for the Cure”.There are biopharmacy companies that make rough claims about “Universal cancer treatment.” And The Telegraph recently “Cancer cure” It’s in your intestines.When the Biden administration declared ambitious earlier this year, the Cancer Moonshot program resumed. “End cancer as we know it” They have at least modified their goal of adding some words about “living with cancer and improving the experience of surviving cancer.”
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I sometimes describe myself as healed carefully.After receiving Rapidly deadly Diagnosis of metastatic melanoma and innovative entry Immunotherapy clinical trials, I haven’t shown any evidence of illness for 10 years.But I’m careful to clarify it my Did not treat the cure.
There is more than one cancer. It’s over a hundred, Over 100 variations The theme is uncontrolled cell proliferation, and all are unique expressions.There are four Types of breast cancer, 4 types of melanoma..As a doctor Jonathan Charnov, The Fox Chase Cancer Center’s director of science explains: Lots of different types of cancer In different tissues that act in different ways. Not all of them are caused by the same mutation, and not all respond to the same type of treatment. “
The genetic variation of all of us makes each cancer a unique experience. Some treatments work for some people and not at all for others. I didn’t have the correct BRAF mutation for vemurafenib. Approved by the FDA Only a few days before being diagnosed in stage 4. Is vemurafenib an effective treatment for certain types of cancer? yes. Will anyone call it a “cure” for cancer? of course not.
Related: Take from laboratory mice — don’t be afraid of “unapproved” vaccines
With a really thrilling outlook that more people can say them Had, Past tense, cancer, and if you never get it in the first place, you need space to think beyond all-or-nothing. The cure is great. I should know. And advances in one form of cancer often indicate hope for the treatment of others. For example, immunotherapy is used as a dark horse in oncology.Today it is an approved protocol Dozens of cancersMore clinical trials are underway, such as the promising rectal cancer trial from MSKCC.But there was an incredible recent breakthrough Deadly cancer like the pancreas..
However, these breakthroughs will continue to be highly coordinated proposals for the foreseeable future. As researchers once explained to me beneficially, you’re not going to get a radical cure-like penicillin for something complex and variable like cancer.Frankly, instead of one magic bullet, there are many effective possibilities and cure ideas. Second most common cause of death in the United StatesPretty nice.
As cancer eradication continues to progress, Live with it.. For certain patients, cancer is no longer a death sentence, but simply a condition they can follow. Tumors in some people cannot be completely eradicated. For them, the phrase “stop progress” can provide a future as beautiful as “healed” and as long and bright as it is. Given the often invasive and difficult nature of treatment and the potential sacrifices it can make to the human body and mind, the goal of spotless scanning is far more meaningful than a healthy overall quality of life anyway. May not be.
“Future cancer treatments won’t win with a simple cancer-killing strategy,” wrote the author of a 2020 paper in Cancers. Instead, “We are probably Turn cancer into a manageable chronic disease, Instead of focusing on finding the perfect cure, the Holy Grail. “
This is a concept that is worth adopting, even for us outside the world of research. That means that we do not accompany the diagnosis the hypothetical assumption that we are “fighting” cancer. That means that one little word is not a generic term for such a complex experience. It means millions of living and breathing humans, moving the story from a war with a single enemy to an incredible story of hope in this breathtaking time of science. Probably.
Details of Salon coverage on the quest for cure:
