Linda trains for her trip to Egypt
Several
times over the past year I have enjoined you to read he Economist (and stop getting
all your news from TV and the internet.
Admittedly, if you relied on the Economist
exclusively you will fall behind on the Kardashians and Lady GaGa, but that might not be such a bad thing.) Now, I am beginning to wonder if I should
recommend Time instead. If you are vitally interested in political
developments in Botswana, Time might
not suffice – but if you want to keep abreast of developments in cancer research,
it might be the better choice. I say
this because Linda’s sister Carolyn has again sent me a link to an article in Time Health that is interesting,
important, and comprehensible. Here is
the link:
The thrust
of the article concerns the increasingly successful use of "targeted therapy”. In an inadequate nutshell, targeted therapy
consists of using cancer gene sequencing to discover precisely which mutation
is causing the trouble, then developing a drug to block its effects. In standard chemotherapy a drug is
administered that is intended to kill all of the cancerous cells – a “one size
fits all” approach”. Chemo carries with
it the threat of miserable side effects, as we all know too well. Also, chemo rarely actually “cures” –
eliminates the cancer once and for all.
This is because cancers, especially solid tumors, are said to be
“heterogeneous” – they don’t all have the same deleterious mutation. Thus, chemo drugs may kill 98% of the
cancerous cells, but leave behind the remaining 2% to regroup and
counter-attack. If your oncologist knew
just what assortment of bad actors he/she is facing – and had a gene sequencer
and a world class lab and his/her disposal - -conceivably she/he could devise a
cocktail of several drugs specific to the problem at hand. In other words – real cure would be
conceivable. It seems to me, though,
that we are talking about lots and lots of money. Can we afford it? Maybe the real heroes here are the engineers
and chemists who are streamlining sequencing and drug creation, making it ever
less expensive. But don’t kid yourself,
it will be damned expensive for a long time to come.
Another
aspect of Time’s reportage is that it
provides links to earlier articles, as well as to some of the original papers
from which the material is extracted. I
clicked on one such, and almost wished I hadn’t. It carried on about targeted therapy and how
the world might soon be rid of many types of cancer. It was two years old.
But, anyway,
I must once again thank my far-flung cadre of research assistants. Without
Dick Ingwall, scouring the NYTimes, Carolyn Joyce studying Time, Parkfriend searching the Toronto
newspapers, and Joan McManus cutting clippings from the San Diego Tribune – I
would have nothing to write about, I
might even have to do my own
research. Heaven forbid!
P.S. There are only 24 more days to sign up for
Summerun North 2013:
and 10 more
days to order a T-shirt:
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