Cancer Breakthrough
Published: May 17, 2006
The latest breakthrough at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is striking, even at a place with a national reputation for medical advances. And behind all the hoopla, there’s hope for those struggling with cancer. Researchers should push all the harder to bring their important work to fruition.
Blood cells taken from cancer-resistant mice have cured cancer in ordinary mice, officials at the center in Winston-Salem announced last week. It’s a concept so revolutionary that the researchers said they had trouble getting their study published. Much of the medical community is not prepared for the idea that some cells can be innately immune to disease, Dr. Zheng Cui, a co-author of the study, told the Journal’s M. Paul Jackson.
“This is not within the realm of normal dogma,” Cui said. “People had problems believing it.”
The study, published last week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will enhance Winston-Salem’s reputation in the medical field.
Years of research at the center laid the groundwork for the breakthrough. Researchers accidentally discovered in 1999 a mouse that was resistant to cancer. They bred similar, cancer-resistant mice that have been able to resist tumors when cancer cells are shot into them.
What’s new is that white blood cells from the resistant mice have been introduced into ordinary mice, giving them a sort of “super cell” that can eliminate even aggressive cancer. These super cells whipped cancer in various parts of mice bodies - and didn’t attack normal cells.
Now, the goal will be to find “super cells” in humans. “The next step is to understand the exact way in which it works, and perhaps eventually design such a therapy for humans,” Dr. Mark Willingham, a co-author of the study, said.
That’s going to be a major challenge, but it’s sure needed. There have certainly been advances in fighting cancer in recent years. But, as Cui said, “People right now are really desperate for something new in cancer treatment.
“We have been in a fight with cancer for almost 200 years. We still give them chemotherapy; we still have a lot of side effects.”
You’d think America would have beaten cancer by now, especially if you or someone you love has the illness and is wrestling with all its pain and mystery. The fight is a long way from over, but the Wake Forest breakthrough is the best news in a long time.
It’s hoped that the cancer-battling “super cells” can eventually be found in humans - and put to work. The world has waited long enough.
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