I have several friends who have said to me that they are annoyed with the state of cancer research. We raise so much money every year through government grants, fun runs, and every other means under the sun, and yet we still have cancer. And to be entirely honest, I once held that opinion too. But I recognized that I was ignorant of what was actually happening in the realm of cancer research, so I felt it was necessary to dig a little deeper and see if I could find some proof that this money was or was not being wasted. It’s called being skeptical, people.

Here is yet another example of some absolutely incredible research being done into curing this disease. You know, the cure that paranoid people insist will never happen since Big Pharmasoooticull doesn’t want it to happen? But that’s a whole other rant. At any rate, this research has been around targeting particular genes that cancer cells need to survive.

I’ll leave the gorey details to the paper, as I’m anything but a cancer specialist and would merely be paraphrasing the article for my lazy readers. The point of it is that they’ve used a new process to kill off a small and seemingly unimportant cell that cancer cells need in order to replicate. This process doesn’t hurt healthy cells, but causes cancer cells to die off.

As usual, there’s loads of work needed before this is ready for prime time, but the concept is fascinating. And it’s because of those fun runs and head shavings and government grants that we’re able to see research like this take shape. And the truth is that this advance isn’t limited to cancer, the concept can most likely be applied to all kinds of problems.

Please, to the naysayers, by all means form your own opinions, but do it with a basis in fact. Heaven knows we all make that mistake, but as a society we need to adopt a skeptical attitude. Whether it’s a distrust of Big Pharma, a fear of the New World Order, or not being sure if that Microsoft corporation is really going to give you millions of dollars just for forwarding an email, we need to open our eyes and evaluate what we read, hear, and see. And that includes the stuff I’m saying.

Do the research. The fight against cancer is alive and well, and a huge number of potential cures are being experimented with every day. Keep on fun running, people.

Jim

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005210009.htm