Progression Of Cancer Research
Cancer has always relate to loss and fear. With today's new progression in prevention, detection and treatment, a diagnosis of cancer no longer necessarily means facing a terminal disease. Rather, as new advances offer more treatment approaches, cancer increasingly takes on the shape of a chronic situation.
Recently, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced that leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline, indicating that progress in prevention, early detection, and newer treatments appear to be helping in the fight against this disease.
The next revolution in cancer therapy will likely find its roots in the ongoing Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a pilot project initiated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Scientists have begun to discover that numerous genes play an important role in cancer, but they have only uncovered a small portion of these genes.
The Cancer Genome Atlas is targeted at helping to increase the understanding of the genetic make-up of cancer. Scientists hope that a better understanding of how cancer cells grow and develop, will lead to new tests to detect cancer in its early, most treatable stages; new approaches to target cancer; and, ultimately, new strategies to prevent cancer.
Understanding of the genetic basis for cancer has already allowed researchers to produce the first drugs that target faulty genes, which are making a difference in the lives of patients. Just ask Bob Ferber. In July of 1999, the Los Angeles attorney was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a malignant cancer of the bone marrow and blood.
Ferber tried many futile attempts at treatment before entering a clinical trial for a drug now called Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) tablets to help fight his disease. Gleevec, approved by the FDA in 2001, is one of the first "targeted therapies" and works by turning off the specific cause of Ph+ CML, something The Cancer Genome Atlas hopes to make possible for many more cancers. Within months, Ferber's white blood cell counts were within normal range and his disease was in remission.
Sadly, not everyone's story is as positive as Ferber's. Hopefully, with the continued advancement of cancer awareness and research, preventative treatment and The Cancer Genome Atlas, cancer patients will one day be able to breathe a sigh of relief and agree with Ferber when he says, "Every time I challenge this cancer, emotionally or physically-and survive-that's a victory for me."
In conclusion, although the progression of cancer research is good to go, a lot of studies still need to be carried out to improve the cancer research findings.
by: Chen Siong
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