6.30.2008

the cure for cancer

Can this be? The cure for cancer? Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are about to start human trial to test whether a new cancer treatment will be as effective at eradicating cancer in humans as it has proven to be in mice: Scientists to test if cancer cure can work in humans.

The treatment will involve transfusing specific white blood cells, called granulocytes, from select donors, into patients with advanced forms of cancer. A similar treatment using white blood cells from cancer-resistant mice has previously been highly successful, curing 100 percent of lab mice afflicted with advanced malignancies.

Dr. Zheng Cui, lead researcher and associate professor of pathology, announced the study on Saturday at the Understanding Aging conference in Los Angeles. The study, given the go-ahead by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will involve treating human cancer patients with white blood cells from healthy young people whose immune systems produce cells with high levels of cancer-fighting activity.

More here: Cancer Cured? Granulocytes Treatment Worked 100 Percent In Mice Work But Will It Work In Humans?. I'm not a science guy, and I barely understand any of this. I read it, and all I really understand is cure for cancer... which is pretty exciting. But probably still a long way off.

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