Our Fur-less Friends
Well, the poor devil on the left
Do you know what an athymic nude mouse is? Well, it is a hairless mouse with no thymus, abundantly used in cancer research. Seems it lacks
killer T cells, hence cannot resist the transplantation of various human
cancers. By God, we owe an enormous debt
of gratitude to mice! When we finally
do conquer cancer, we should build a monument on The Mall. The principal occupant should be the person (or
computer algorithm) that finally cracked the conundrum – but crouching at
his/her/its feet should be a marble mouse!
Which brings me to the subject of this blog. As you know, detecting OVCA early enough to
snuff it out is difficult. Hell, to all
intents and purposes, it’s impossible.
Now comes along a group who have constructed a carbon nanotube which has
the characteristic of changing its electromagnetic properties in the presence of the protein HE4. As
demonstrated by the Fred Hutch group I used to help, high concentrations of HE4
are a “tell” for OVCA. Unfortunately, by
the time HR4 concentrations in blood samples reach a detectable level the
patient is in stage 3. These miraculous
nanotubes, if located near the fallopian tubes, can do much better – or so
indicate the nude mice.
So, good, I
guess. But before I get too excited, I’d
like to know:
How do you implant the damned thing?
Will every female baby get “implanted”
at, say, birth?
How often will a woman have to
be “monitored?
And, obviously – how much will
it cost?
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