September 8, 2006
- Day 3 - Week 23 - Good News (for a change)
It's always nice to be greeted by a "good news"
headline on the front page of the morning newspaper.
Unfortunately, that's a very rare occurrence. Today,
however, USA Today's lead column is entitled,
"Killer Cancer Genes ID'd----"Achilles heel" of
tumors discovered! I'm so "used to" front page
pictures of homeless refugees of war, bombed out
city streets, mother's holding dying children, etc.
that the USA Today headline took my breath away.
"Good news?", I thought to myself. How can this be?
I purchased the paper and eagerly consumed the "good
news".
The article states that scientists at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda have identified
"the bulk" of genes that cause breast and colorectal
cancer, a finding that could lead to improved
diagnosis and treatment of those two deadly cancers.
(According to the article, about 211,000 cases of
breast cancer are diagnosed each year, of which some
40,000 people die. Some 145,000 cases of colorectal
cancer are diagnosed each year of which some 56,000
die. Hmmmm, looks like my brother, Barry is beating
the odds!!!!!) Prior to their research, scientists
only had only identified some 10 genes connected
with those forms of cancer. The new findings
identify about 200 cancer causing genes, 69 of which
are associated with colorectal cancer and 122
associated with breast cancer. Wow, that looks like
serious progress to me!
Discovery of these "bad boy" genes will help doctors
make adjustments to treatment based on their
invesigations of the genetic structure of cancers in
each individual. Researchers have discovered,for
example, that tumors on the same organs have
significantly different genetic structures and may
have "only about five genes in common." The article
states that it's possible that only one gene in a
tumor that needs treatment in order to check or kill
the tumor. Chemotherapy could be adapted to that
genetic information and tailored to each individual
patient. Doctors expect that "tailored therapies"
will take a decade or more to develop, but
improvements could be expected in the next two or
three years. (My cynical self tells me that such
projections have been made in the past, but since
I'm starved for good news these days, I'll accept
their prognosis and keep my fingers crossed.)
In case you'd like to know more, the research has
been published on line in "Science"
www.sciencemag.org. It's entitled, "Cancer: First
Pass at Cancer Genome Reveals Complex Landscape."
Sounds like heavy reading to me. In the meantime, I
think I'll just enjoy the "good news" today.
Back to Week
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