Blog 145 Friday 11th January 2013

I would like to share two interesting articles I found in "The Lancet". Volume 381 January 2013

My altered self: cancer 

Felicia Marie Knaul discovered she had breast cancer at the age of 41 years while living in Mexico. Although a terrible predicament to be in, she acknowledges the metaphorical abyss that she fell into was less deep and less dark than that for many women with the same disease who are socially and economically less fortunate than herself. The rates of deaths from breast cancer have increased steadily in Mexico since 1955, mainly because the disease is not detected and treated in time among low-income groups.

Read more :http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60035-5/fulltext?elsca1=ETOC-LANCET&elsca2=email&elsca3=E24A35F

And ......................

Caroline Dive: leader in translational oncology research

Professor Caroline Dive leads the Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology Group at the Cancer Research UK Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester. Her team carry out lab studies and early clinical research into new cancer drugs. Professor Dive also carries out important research into drug resistance in bowel cancer.

Oncology (from the Ancient Greek onkos (ὄγκος), meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix -logy (-λογία), meaning "study of") is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist.

This report gives a very good view on the current research going into Biomarkers.

Biomarkers directly measure protein levels in tumour tissue which allows for effective drug selection.
Biomarker tests will help doctors determine whether patients carry the protein in their cancer, will help to judge the best medicine for the patients disease and wether the patient will respond to the cancer drug treatments under consideration. This will benefit patients in two ways. Firstly biomarker testing identifies whether the treatment will be effective and secondly, it can help determine whether the patient is also likely to suffer side-effects.

Read More: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60036-7/fulltext?elsca1=ETOC-LANCET&elsca2=email&elsca3=E24A35F#
 
I have recently blogged that my oncologist has stated that I will not necessarily be given chemotherapy again as tumours returned to my lungs shortly after 6 months of chemotherapy...........obviously it didnt work. I'm sure the above research will not benefit me but how fantastic to have research moving at such a great pace...................