Last night I watched the first of the two-part series Breaking the Cancer Code with Katie Couric. Current chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer are, as Couric called it, "a scorched body approach" for cancer patients. "They throw everything against the wall to see what sticks."It is frustrating for the cancer patient, for the oncologist, for the cancer community. Why haven't we made more advancements, why don't we understand cancer any better than we do, why must we endure treatments that attack healthy cells in order to kill off cancerous ones with generalized treatments that might or might not stick? Because, right now, that's all there is to offer in the fight against cancer.
Which makes Couric's news feature all that more compelling -- and hopeful. The scientific community is beginning to make progress in discovering what cancer cells are made of and how they work. As a result, an emerging class of cancer treatment drugs, called targeted therapies, are beginning to show promise. Drugs that target the cancer cell without causing any collateral damage to healthy cells, like Herceptin, Gleevec and Avastin. Herceptin targets proteins on the surface of the cell, Gleevec works inside the cell to block cancer's growth and Avastin shuts down the blood vessels that feed the tumor.
Johns Hopkins University's Dr. Bert Vogelstein has spent 30 years unraveling the secret codes to cancer, and when referring to cancer he is quoted as saying, "It was a total mystery, a black box. It was like some plague from outer space."
Tonight, Couric takes a look at super computers that can take cancer cells and test which treatments work and which ones remain ineffective in treating an individual cancer -- before the cancer patient begins treatment. To watch an off camera discussion between Couric and CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook regarding targeted cancer therapies and super computers, watch this video.
1. As a cervical cancer surviver, this information is crucial, thankfully I survive yet as the doctors tell me, my main body parts are melted together due to high doses of radiation. Though I have alot of "new " medical issues
a more accurate treatment is so overdue
Posted at 6:41PM on Nov 5th 2006 by valentin