Finally, a cancer treatment where the healthy cells aren’t destroyed

Every year, over seven lakh people in India are diagnosed with cancer. And this is just the registered number. The country today has around 2.5 people with reported cases of cancer. We use the term reported and registered number because there are lakhs of people, who have cancer, but due to the lack of knowledge, don't know that they have been affected.

For those, who can afford treatment, chemotherapy is always the option, albeit a painful one. The radiation that destroys the cancerous cells also destroys the normal, healthy cells, resulting in absolute weakness. However, in May this year, a team of scientists at Duke University in the United States, found a way through which treatment could only destroy the cancerous cells and not affect the healthy ones. If this is a success, it could change the way of treating cancer.

Video credit: NowThis Future

The scientists developed an antibody (a protein produced in response to a foreign particle entering the body and fighting it) that only targets cancer cells and triggers an immune response to kill tumours, while leaving the healthy cells unharmed.

The paper that was published in May is the latest in a series of studies by the team, whose earlier research suggested the antibody helped halt progression of early-stage lung cancer.</p><p>White blood cells were extracted from patients to make the antibody. This antibody was then tested in multiple cancer cell lines, including lung, gastric and breast cancers in lab dishes and in tumours in living mice. Researchers observed that the antibodies inhibited tumour growth without obvious side effects.

While this treatment hasn’t been scaled up, it’s just time before it becomes a foolproof mechanism in the treatment of cancers. And hopefully, if it’s reasonably priced, people will also opt out of chemotherapy.</p></body></html>