The Cure for Cancer?

Now this is cool, so get ready.

Researchers from Juno Therapeutics as well as Novartis, both biotech companies, have found a way that they believe may be a potential cure for cancer. Close to 90% of patients with leukemia were healed after receiving experimental samples of CAR T-cell therapies.

What is this? Well, basically, blood is withdrawn from a cancer patient and the white blood cells are isolated. These white blood cells are then infected with an inactive virus that contains the genes that recognize specific cancer cells. These new and improved white blood cells are then grown in a lab for about ten days before they are put back into the original patient. The white blood cells multiply once they are within the body, and seek have a new thirst for cancer cell blood, resulting in the omission of cancer within the patient.

In short, the patient is healed.

The drawbacks? Well, there's a few.

For starters, at an estimated $500,000/treatment, this isn't going to be something that everybody can afford. Cancer treatments are incredibly expensive already between chemotherapy, radiation treatment, surgery, hospital stays, biopsies, etc. Adding an additional 500 grand to the tab isn't going to be a very practical solution.

Second, patients utilizing CAR therapies are at risk for cytokine-release syndrome, a situation in which blood pressure drops while the heart rate spikes. Two patients died in an initial trial due to this, so it is something to think about. Researchers claim that if the patient is healthy, CAR therapies should be relatively safe. The only question that then comes to mind is how is it possible to have cancer and be healthy?

Every treatment has side effects, however, as anybody who's ever watched a Zyrtec commercial can attest to. And if it really came down to it, I think that most people would agree that the risks are worth taking in this case.

Nevertheless, this is incredibly exciting. To see how God-gifted scientists have been able to find a very effective cure to certain types of cancers, is awesome to see. The therapy is currently under review by the FDA.

You can read more here.