remission – BioQuakes

Cancer is defined as a disease that is caused by cells dividing uncontrollably and spreading to nearby tissue. Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body and it is made up by a build up of cells called a tumor. Cancer lives throughout recorded history just as it does today, an unsolved mystery. The earliest findings of tumors and cancer can be found in ancient Egyptian Mummies, and the first recordings were found in 3000 BC in Egypt. Although they didn’t refer to it as cancer, they described it as 8 cases of tumors that were surgically removed. The words, “there is no treatment,” were written in those early recordings. They couldn’t be more wrong! I’ll let it slide though because their technology was 5000 years behind ours. There are in fact many treatments in the world for cancer and there are new ones being discovered every day. While there may not be a cure for cancer, there are many treatments that show more and more signs of remission.

What Treatments Are Available?

The most common and well known treatment for cancer is Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that relies on the injection of chemicals to kill all of the fast growing cells in the human body. Chemotherapy is somewhat of a flexible treatment because it doesn’t have to be the primary treatment. Chemotherapy can be used without using other treatments, after using other treatments, and to prepare you for other treatments. While this may sound very appealing and hopeful, the success rate of Chemotherapy isn’t as high as we’d like it to be. The success rate varies, but it’s evident that as the severity of the cancer increases, the effectiveness of treatment decreases. Furthermore, the side effects of chemotherapy are not only excruciating, but scarring. As stated, the treatment attacks all of the fast growing cells, including hair, skin blood intestinal cells. This will cause hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, fatigue, easy bruising and fever.

There are other treatments for cancer that are not related to Chemotherapy, such as surgery, targeted therapies, and supportive care. Surgery is one of the biggest options for early stage cancers that are not blood cancers. Surgically removing the tumor from the body is the motive of this form of treatment. One must take into account the size, location and stage of the tumor in question. Targeted therapies (precision medicine) are tailored to specific patients. Through this therapy, scientists are able to find five or six gene processes that essentially turn a cancer “on or off.” While supportive care isn’t exactly considered medicine, forms of meditation and fitness are said to ease the effects of cancer and cancer treatment.

A New Hope

Through extensive research and testing, a new hope for remission has been discovered. Immunotherapy is a known, newer method of treating cancer that, instead of directly killing the cancer cells, boosts one’s immune system and natural defenses. This is a type of biological therapy because it uses substances made from living organisms as treatment. A recently discovered form of Immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy has proven to show a lot of promise. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that kills cells infected with a pathogen. In this new therapy, doctors take blood from the patient and separate the T-cells from it. They then genetically change these cells so that they specifically attach to a protein on cancer cells. After expanding the number of T-cells, the doctors inject them back into the body. This treatment, however, is not without its side effects. As these T-cells cells multiply, they release cytokines into the blood, causing nausea, vomiting, fever, headaches, and diarrhea. How has CAR T-cell therapy been effective? An experiment was done in 2010 on two individuals with Chronic lymphocytic leukemia using CAR T-cell therapy. Just after this experiment, both patients saw complete remission in their cancer. And now ten years later, these two individuals show complete remission. Although more research needs to be done, CAR T-cell therapy proves to be an effective, long term treatment for cancer.

Today, one of the most talked about cancers is breast cancer. Breast cancer is defined as cancer that forms in the tissues of the breast. There are two types of breast cancer: ductal carcinoma, which is most common and begins in the lining of the milk ducts (thin tubes that carry milk from the lobules of the breast to the nipple) and lobular carcinoma, which begins in the lobules (milk glands) of the breast.

According to a new study done by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and University of Cambridge, a gene has been identified to have a major association in aggressive subtypes of breast cancer. The research suggests that an overactive BCL11A gene causes the development of tripe-negative breast cancer.

The study was conducted in human cells and in mice. The study was important because one in five patients are affected by triple-negative breast cancer. From the conducted research, Dr. Walid Khaled discovered that by adding an active human BCL11A gene to a human or a mouse’s breast cells (in the lab) caused them to behave as cancer cells. Increasingly, Dr. Khaled concluded that “by increasing BCL11A activity we increase cancer-like behaviour; by reducing it, we reduce cancer-like behavior.”

This research and study is extremely important because from the results, the team was able to propose that BCL11A is a strong candidate for development of a possible targeted treatment. Typical treatments of breast cancer include radiation and chemotherapy as well as surgery. The most known surgeries are Lumpectomy/partial mastectomy (large portion of the breast is removed) and a full mastectomy (full removal of breasts)

I chose this article because I know many dear friends that have faced and survived the battle of breast cancer. I believe that spreading awareness and screening early is extremely important. In addition, I am very hopeful that new advances will be made so that others need not endure the excruciating fight of breast cancer.

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: remission

A New Hope For Remission

What Treatments Are Available?

A New Hope

New Breast Cancer Gene Discovered

Archives