Good News: Cancer Edition
June 16, 2024 7:47 AM Subscribe
13 year old Lucas Jemeljanova becomes first person to be cured of DIPG, a mostly fatal pediatric brain cancer, after traveling to France to participate in a study on the effectiveness of 3 cancer drugs. The same mRNA technology that brought us the COVID-19 vaccine could also be used to create a vaccine for cancer. Microrobots made of algae can carry chemo directly to lung tumors, improving cancer treatment. The American Society of Clinical Oncology met this year to share their latest findings on ways to treat cancer: from “melting away” tumors, to more accurate cancer screenings, and clinical trials for promising cancer vaccines.
Thanks for this amazing news.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:21 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]
posted by joannemerriam at 9:21 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]
When science set out to "find a cure for cancer" it was perhaps not as well understood that cancer is thousands of distinct diseases, and so the goal as stated doesn't make a lot of sense. And of course no one is ever going to want to jinx it by declaring "cancer is cured," but in more and more cases, effective treatments lead to indefinite remission. Incremental improvements don't generally warrant big headlines, but decade by decade, huge progress has been made and is ongoing.
Fuck cancer. Science is awesome.
posted by rikschell at 9:26 AM on June 16 [20 favorites]
Fuck cancer. Science is awesome.
posted by rikschell at 9:26 AM on June 16 [20 favorites]
ASCO is legendary for being the home of hypothetical advancements. These advances would become reality far more quickly if not for insurers constantly working to deny legally required care, supported in “peer to peer” consults by physicians who were so bad at their jobs that their licenses were suspended.
Please support ProPublica’s exposures of societal malpractice so that people like my sister, my clinical fellow, and my colleagues can practice medicine and cure horrible conditions like DIPG and ATRT. All the advances in the world won’t help people if they can’t be administered to patients in need, in a timely fashion (this is where insurers commit their worst atrocities).
posted by apathy at 9:47 AM on June 16 [16 favorites]
Please support ProPublica’s exposures of societal malpractice so that people like my sister, my clinical fellow, and my colleagues can practice medicine and cure horrible conditions like DIPG and ATRT. All the advances in the world won’t help people if they can’t be administered to patients in need, in a timely fashion (this is where insurers commit their worst atrocities).
posted by apathy at 9:47 AM on June 16 [16 favorites]
OHenryPacey I hope that you’ll be able to recover from your cancer soon.
I should note that my friends’ son, who was the same age as my own, was diagnosed with DIPG just prior to the start of the COVID pandemic and he passed at the age of 6. It has been brutal observing their journey and the prospect of a possible cure for this rare but deadly disease is just nothing short of amazing.
posted by toastyk at 10:15 AM on June 16 [5 favorites]
I should note that my friends’ son, who was the same age as my own, was diagnosed with DIPG just prior to the start of the COVID pandemic and he passed at the age of 6. It has been brutal observing their journey and the prospect of a possible cure for this rare but deadly disease is just nothing short of amazing.
posted by toastyk at 10:15 AM on June 16 [5 favorites]
Thank you for this wonderful news, toastyk, all four of these great links. I'm so grateful to all the scientists and medical professionals working so hard to make cancer less common and less deadly.
posted by kristi at 10:27 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]
posted by kristi at 10:27 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]
OHenryPacey Hopefully when you ring the bell, that’ll be the end of that. I will keep my fingers and toes crossed for you.
posted by apathy at 10:27 AM on June 16 [3 favorites]
posted by apathy at 10:27 AM on June 16 [3 favorites]
cancer is thousands of distinct diseases
My line has been "cancer is 200 different diseases". The real number is likely several hundred, but thousands isn't impossible.
Lucas Jemeljanova's cancer was cured with everolimus, which is a derivative of sirolimus, aka rapamycin. This 2012 article gives background on rapamycin. [I used to work with the San Antonio scientists mentioned in this article.]
posted by neuron at 11:01 AM on June 16 [2 favorites]
My line has been "cancer is 200 different diseases". The real number is likely several hundred, but thousands isn't impossible.
Lucas Jemeljanova's cancer was cured with everolimus, which is a derivative of sirolimus, aka rapamycin. This 2012 article gives background on rapamycin. [I used to work with the San Antonio scientists mentioned in this article.]
posted by neuron at 11:01 AM on June 16 [2 favorites]
Any treatment for DIPG would be amazing. Right now it's utterly lethal.
posted by praemunire at 7:05 PM on June 17
posted by praemunire at 7:05 PM on June 17
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One thing that gets me through is the idea that every day scientists are working toward treatments and cures to extend the lives of their patients.
Early screening makes every diagnosis easier to treat, so get checked.
Good luck to everyone out there going through it, it sucks, but more often these days life will go on.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:05 AM on June 16 [34 favorites]