Puppy Love
Well, at least we can cure ovarian cancer – in mice – most of the
time.
As far back as 8/22/2012 I wrote a blog about cancer stem
cells,
and the topic has
arisen multiple times since. The down
and dirty facts are that standard chemo can kill, say, 99% of OVCA cancer cells
– but the remaining 1% have stem-cell-like properties and, surviving,
regenerate the malignancy. Now some
smart people at U. Pittsburgh have devised a drug that causes these cancer stem
cell bastards to themselves croak. What
this drug does is to prevent the cancer stem cells from expelling toxins they
generate in dividing. In effect, they
die of acute constipation! Serves ‘m
right, by golly!
Of course, so far these results apply only to mice; no human
trials are reported, yet.
P.S. I try not to
become discouraged, but sometimes it is hard.
When I started this blog, some seven years ago, many articles I read
began with words like “22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this
year, and 15,000 will die of it. Less
than 50% of women with OVCA will survive for five years.” I
still see that language, all the time.
Well said.
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