DailyDirt: Imagine There's No Cancer...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

In 2015, an estimated 1.6 million patients were diagnosed with cancer and over half a million died from it. We've previously pointed out some cancer research that could lead to promising new treatments, and it looks like we're making significant progress in the fight against the many forms of this deadly disease. Using the body's own immune system to fight cancer is a growing strategy that seems to be working. Check out a few of these minor successes.

• Jimmy Carter announced that his cancer treatments are going well, and his latest brain scans don't show any tumors. Carter has been getting radiation treatments and doses of Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug, to fight off cancer. Immunotherapy drugs are promising, but it's not well understood how they work just yet. Presumably, as we figure them out, we'll be able to target different kinds of cancer and improve the treatment. [url]
• Sequencing the genes of cancer cells can help determine drugs that could specifically target tumors. Hundreds of cancer drugs have been tested in clinical trials, and a few are extending the life expectancy of patients. As long as the drug prices don't skyrocket unexpectedly, many people might be able to benefit from this advance in biotech. [url]
• The FDA has approved a virus that can attack cancer cells. This living virus, sold as Imlygic, is an engineered version of herpesvirus, and it's probably the first of a class of viral anti-cancer treatments. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take 10% off any $50+ order from our Daily Deals using the promo code DAILYDIRT.

Filed Under: biotech, cancer, cancer research, dna, drugs, health, imlygic, immunotherapy, jimmy carter, keytruda, medicine, pharmaceuticals, treatment, tumor

DailyDirt: Fighting Cancer

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The fight against cancer is a tough one, but new treatments are coming along that might put an end to more forms of it. For example, Google X (aka Google[x]) is working on a way to target cancer cells with nanoparticles and a wearable device. That sounds like pretty far out research, but there are a lot of different approaches to tackling cancer. Here are just a few promising ones.

• Genetically engineered T cells have been re-programmed to kill off other blood cells that might become cancerous. Patients with deadly leukemia have been treated with these modified T cells, and it looks like a promising treatment which could be modified to work against other cancers. [url]
• An experimental protein therapy might stop the metastasis of certain cancers and offer an alternative to chemotherapy. Modified proteins have stopped the spread of breast and ovarian cancers in lab mice, but testing has not yet been done in humans. [url]
• Some "zombie bacteria" (genetically modified anthrax) can be used as a drug delivery system for cancerous cells that are typically difficult to target. Cancer-fighting anthrax is being tested on mice, and this strategy might help expand the number of drugs available to treat recalcitrant tumors. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: cancer, chemotherapy, drug delivery, genetically modified anthrax, gmo, health, leukemia, nanotech, protein therapy, tumor, zombie bacteria
Companies: google