What do Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon and Robert Pattinson have in common? How about Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, and Tim McGraw? Aside from being celebrities, they also helped create awareness and raise funds for cancer research and treatment. They and other celebrities and athletes were involved in the 3rd Stand Up to Cancer telethon on September 14, 2012. And many of them have personal experiences with cancer or have close relatives who had it.
Cancer is a serious disease. In the U.S., 1,600 Americans die of cancer every single day. One in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. And according to Roberts, “Cancer kills a child every 4 hours”.
The statistics in the Philippines are bad also. In fact, it is rare for anybody not to have a family member, a friend or a colleague who wasn’t treated for or died from cancer.
Nevertheless, due to the continuing support of many individuals and corporations for Stand Up to Cancer and other organizations, newer innovative treatment modalities to improve the quality of life and survival of cancer patients became reality.
Why We Stand Up to Cancer
Chemotherapy works by blocking the replication of fast-dividing cells such as those found in cancers. Scientists have observed that cancer cells are so easy to kill in the laboratory using chemotherapy medicines, and yet when chemotherapy medicines are actually injected into patients with cancer, the effect is not as impressive. In fact, some cancers continue to grow and spread.
One possible reason was recently discovered by researchers in the United States. They found that chemotherapy can damage normal or healthy cells as well, which then secrete more of a protein called WNT16B, which enhances cancer cell survival. This unexpected finding was reported by study co-author Peter Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. As he explained, the protein was taken up by cancer cells, which made them grow, invade, and more importantly, resist subsequent therapy. This is also the reason for the observation that cancers often respond well initially to chemotherapy, but will grow rapidly later on and become resistant to further chemotherapy. In fact, many oncologists have also observed that cancer cell proliferation accelerates in-between chemotherapy.
Their findings may result in newer and better treatment. One option is to develop antibodies to block WNT16B. Another way may be to use a smaller dose or less toxic chemotherapy so that normal cells don’t get damaged. When combined with gene therapy like Gendicine, which lowers the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy, a lower and less toxic chemotherapy may be the solution.
In this video segment, learn the facts about breast cancer.
Dr. David Dy, surgical-oncologist, discusses Gene Therapy in The Morning Show on local TV.
Gene Therapy was a topic covered recently in Salamat Dok, a medical TV program in the Philippines.
Gene Therapy covered in Salamat Dok from David Dy, M.D. on Vimeo.
A US cancer institute is developing a drug that would help patients complete their treatment for non-small cell lung cancer.
Doctors at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) Cancer Institute reported that they are developing JP4039, which is based on the protein MNSOD-PL. It enables patients to prevent esophagitis, a side effect of treating non-small cell lung cancer with chemotherapy and radiation. The condition causes the inflammation of the esophagus, sometimes making it difficult for patients to swallow their own saliva. This prevents patients from completing their treatment and even cause dehydration. With JP4039, patients no longer suffer from the debilitating effects of esophagitis and thus could continue with their treatment. Aside from that, patients experience no side effects after taking JP4039.
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The University of Miami has begun the development of a cancer treatment that showed no side effects found in other treatments.
Called SGN30, the experimental treatment targets only cancer cells with the marker called CD30, leaving healthy cells alone. This is unlike chemotherapy that destroys not only cancer cells but also neighboring cells, including healthy ones.
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