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Cancer may no longer be deadly in future


ChuckNORRIS4Cup

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Some interesting stuff.

 

Cancer may no longer be deadly in future, say British researchers announcing breakthrough

 

LONDON — Scientists have discovered a breakthrough treatment to fight cancer, and claim the disease will no longer be deadly for future generations.

 

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London believe it is possible to strengthen the body’s defences by transplanting immune cells from strangers. Patients will begin to receive the new treatment next year, and the team now wants to establish “immune banks” to store disease-fighting cells.

 

Prof Adrian Hayday, an immunology expert and group leader of the immunosurveillance laboratory at The Crick, said scientists and doctors could become more like engineers, upgrading the body rather than bombarding it with toxic chemotherapy.

 

“Using the immune system to fight cancer is the ultimate do-it-yourself approach,” he said.

 

“Even a few years ago the notion that any clinician would look at a patient and deliver a therapy which wasn’t going to directly affect the cancer in any way, shape or form, would have been pretty radical. But that’s what’s happening.

 

“We’re seeing impressive results with cells called natural killer cells. It’s very early days but there are patients receiving them in this next year and the year after, and the nice feature is, unlike other immunotherapy, these cells aren’t rejected.

 

“So you have the possibility of developing cell banks that could be used for anyone. You would call them up and deliver them to the clinic just hours before they were needed to be infused.

 

“We’re not quite there yet. But that’s what we’re trying now. There is every capability of getting cell banks like this established.”

 

Until this year, scientists thought it would be impossible to import a stranger’s immune cells as the immunosuppressant drugs needed to ensure the body did not reject them, would cancel out the benefits. But in 2018, scientists realized that immune cells are unlike other cells, and can survive well in another person, opening the door to transplants.

 

More than 350,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year, and 30 years ago just one in four people would have survived for 10 years.But radical advances over the past decade have seen the number of people surviving for at least a decade rise to 50 per cent and the team at The Crick want to make that 75 per cent in the next 15 years.

 

Prof Charlie Swanton, of the Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, said that the ability now to sequence tumours was heralding a new era of medicine tailor-made for a patient.

 

“It’s a very exciting time. The technology available to us now is just incredible. We’re able to sequence the genome of a tumour, understand its micro-environment, how it metabolises, what cells are controlling the tumour, and how those can be manipulated. Using the body’s own immune cells to target the tumour is elegant because tumours evolve so quickly there is no way a pharmaceutical company can keep up with it, but the immune system has been evolving for over four billion years to do just that.

 

Tumours evolve in a branched way, like trees, but scientists have recently found immune cells in their “trunks”, which could be crucial to battling the disease from the base up.

 

“I would go so far as to say that we might reach a point, maybe 20 years from now, where the vast majorities of cancers are rapidly treated diseases or long-term chronic issues that you can manage. And I think the immune system will be essential in doing that.

 

“Between 1980 and 2010, 519,000 cancer deaths were avoided because of cancer research. If that’s not a note for optimism I don’t know what is.

 

Prof Swanton added: “Bear in mind 30 years ago that was one in four so survival has doubled in my lifetime and I think it will double again over the next 30 years. The future is incredibly bright.”

 

https://beta.canada.com/health/health-and-wellness/cancer-may-no-longer-be-deadly-in-future-say-british-researchers-announcing-breakthrough/wcm/0695258a-3718-40d6-8e3e-5a3a2f25b672/html

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2 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Great news as cancer's affected everyone here on a personal level, but it makes me worry for my retirement savings/overpopulation.  The world's economy and resources simply aren't equipped for the longer life expectancy this will allow.

I fear the day King Heffy manages to steal the glove from Thanos

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10 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Great news as cancer's affected everyone here on a personal level, but it makes me worry for my retirement savings/overpopulation.  The world's economy and resources simply aren't equipped for the longer life expectancy this will allow.

Or quit &^@#ing breeding!  :P 

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9 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

I fear the day King Heffy manages to steal the glove from Thanos

Not saying we shouldn't be curing cancer.  Of course we should.  But we also need a plan to ensure we are able to provide a good quality of life for our seniors.  We need to make sure this is accessible to everyone.

 

I don't want something wonderful to be ruined by unintended consequences.

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6 minutes ago, Toni Zamboni said:

thanks for sharing chuck. 

Cancer has taken its toll on my family...its an ugly disease that needs to be stopped.

Sorry to hear and same, couldn't agree more! It's about time imo with all the time and money that has been invested into this horrible disease to find a cure, so hoping this can really make a change in the future because chemo is just horrible, fingers crossed.

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36 minutes ago, Toni Zamboni said:

thanks for sharing chuck. 

Cancer has taken its toll on my family...its an ugly disease that needs to be stopped.

&^@# Cancer!

 

Lost my dad in March to it.

 

This story is great news. We have come a long way in the fight against cancer. Looking forward to seeing the fight continue.

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3 hours ago, King Heffy said:

Great news as cancer's affected everyone here on a personal level, but it makes me worry for my retirement savings/overpopulation.  The world's economy and resources simply aren't equipped for the longer life expectancy this will allow.

I have a feeling the planet will take care of that herself.  She can only handle so much stress before lashing out at humanity.  Earth needs a population reset anyways.  Thanos is right.

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1 minute ago, 48MPHSlapShot said:

There may be a cure for cancer!

 

"That's all well and good, but do we reeeeeeally want to cure cancer?"

 

a_0.gif

I do.  Curing Cancer would br fantastic.  This new medical treatment seems the best improvement we’ve seen since the development of antibiotics.  (Will cancer mutate, much like bacteria have?) 

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14 minutes ago, Tystick said:

The cure already exists IMO

Yep, more profitable if we still pretend to search for a cure. 

 

3 minutes ago, gurn said:

Did you tell that to Steve Jobs?

No one likes Steve Jobs enough to tell him. 

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1 hour ago, aeromotacanucks said:

Ok dude totally unrelated but that seaplane on your profile is really cool

 

Is this one of those "water bombers" operating in Canada?

It is...   a Martin, Mars built during WW2 to fly urgent supplies from the mainland to Hawaii.

I believe one is still operated by Coulson Forest Products.

The picture does not show just how damn big the plane is.

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