Cancer has been crippling us, killing us, causing pain since decades. New Study done on mice suggests that the way forward to cope with cancer is to kill it in small doses, rather than attempting it to kill completely.
Chemotherapy the most used methodology to kill cancer cells completely paralyses the immune system of the patient too. Not only they try to kill cancer cells but also cause hair loss, nausea and extreme fatigue in patients. New breakthrough in the field suggests a high dose of chemotherapy in the first round and then decreasing the intensity of the chemotherapy. The idea behind this is to build the body’s immune system in fighting the cancer cells on it’s own. In this approach some of cancer cells are left so that body can fight it.
The study lead by scientists Dr Robert Gatenby, from the H Lee Moffitt Cancer Centre and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, used the drug chemotherapy drug paclitaxel on mice to treat two different kinds of breast cancer.
Writing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Dr Gatenby said: “Our results suggest that this adaptive therapeutic strategy can be adapted to clinical imaging and can result in prolonged progression-free survival in breast cancer.
“Finally, we note that the evolutionary principles that govern AT may be applicable to a wide range of breast cancer treatments including hormonal manipulation and immunotherapy, although they will need to undergo further testing in those settings.
It is still a long way when the findings of the scientists would be used to control cancer. But it is a breakthrough. Allergies are treated in a very similar fashion. Instead of completely keeping the patient away from the food which he is allergic to, the patient is exposed to the food in modicum quantities, which helps build the immune system. This may be the way forward to dealing with cancer too.