Cancer has affected
many families around the world. My family is no expectation to this disease;
both my mother and father have been diagnosed with cancer. Since their
diagnosis, I have made a decision to go into cancer research. Since cancer is a
topic of interest to me, I decided to look for new developments in cancer
research. One article stood out to me, “New Cancer Treatment Makes Tumor Cells
Commit Suicide.”
In this article,
researchers at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, have developed a
drug that attacks the proteins that help form the structure of cancer cells,
while the healthy cells are left alone. This drug is called TR100. The article was published in Cancer
Research in August 2013.
The two proteins that
give the cancer cell their structure is actin and myosin. These proteins are
also found in human muscle cells. Actin and myosin have been the targets for
chemotherapy for many years, which is why chemotherapy can take a toll on the
human body. The TR100 targets a specific type of myosin called tropomyosins.
This protein is found in cancer cells but not muscle cells. The TR100 will
damage the structure of the protein and the cell will break itself down and
other cells will absorb, recycle and reuse the material that was broken down.
This does seem too good to be true, because, there is one down fall associated
with the use of TR100. The tropomyosin
that is found in cancers is also found in stem cells. Once the stem cell evolves
and becomes a heart, lung or brain cell, then the
tropomyosin is changed and the TR100 is no longer toxic to that cell. The TR100
can affect parts of the body that have stem cells that are still active, such
as bone marrow and the brain.
Dr. Stehn, who is one
of the scientist on this project, tested the TR100 drug on heart, liver and
brain cells in his lab. The results of his tests showed no harm to
the cells that were tested. The TR100
drug has been tested on neuroblastoma and melanoma cells. The results of the test
concluded that the cancerous cells had
been killed and the healthy cells were not affected. The main use of the TR100 drug
is focused on children’s cancer that
seems to be hard-to-treat. TR100 may go into clinical trials in 2015.
Doctors know this is
not a “silver bullet”; a combination of treatments to help the cancer patient
will be necessary. Doctors also know that there will be down falls to new clinical drugs that are
in the trial phase. Do the negative effects out weight the good? Will this hurt
the children later in life? Only clinical
studies can answer those questions. I am hopeful that this drug is used in clinical trials in 2015. The
studies may show that TR100 affects other types of cancers that some doctors may
write off as a lost cause. Two questions have surfaced, (1) “Do you think TR100
should be used in clinical trials with
children?” or (2)Should more research and study be conducted using rats?
Refer to the below link
if you would like to look into this study for this miracle drug.
I found this interesting since I've also had family members with cancer.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions with my opinion:
1) I think the way clinical trials will get the best results for children with cancer is to use children... However, I do not think it is morally correct on the parents' or doctors' parts. I understand that parents may be wanting to do the free trial for their children as it may be a fix that ultimately helps when nothing else seems to be, but in most trials, the bad outweighs the good. Parents and doctors cannot honestly think that children trials are acceptable when everyone knows how fast trials can take a turn for the worst, ultimately leading to death.
2) I do think at this point, more research should be done using rats especially since stem cells are involved. I believe the drug is still too new to be making any big decisions to try on children.
It may seem negative effects weigh out the positive but in the long run so many people will be assisted with a treatment that is able to save their lives.
ReplyDeleteI believe rats are being used to study various cancers and illnesses at the moment. The trend should deffenatly continue because there these studies, there have been a lot of break throughs in our understanding of how cancer operates.
First off, I agree with Mariah in that the best way to get exact results is to continue the studies using children, but only if the parents AND the child agree to it, not just the parents. The studies on rats are a good start, but eventually it has to be used on children if the ultimate goal is for this to be used on children.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't have to be rats or kids. Maybe rats and kids? Usually clinical trials are reserved for patients who have otherwise exhausted their options. Does that matter?
ReplyDeleteYes those are good points but if the child has been told there is no other option wouldn't it be better for the child to take a chance on this experimental drug? The drug coud be tested on rats and kids at the same time so that there could be a chance that the kid would survive the cancer and more data could be collected from the rat experiment as well. That way there is more evidence that this drug could be used as a treatment down the line.
ReplyDeleteI guess it maybe also depends on the probability of success and potential for suffering.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with the others. It should only be used as a last chance scenario. My main question is why is this being used in children? Or trying to tailor it toward the use in children? They are the ones who have the highest amount of stem cells, as they are still developing and growing. Why wouldn’t this be tried for the use in adults, who have a much lower amount of stem cells in their marrow. It would only make sense. Wouldn’t it?
ReplyDeleteGaby they are using this trial in children because the foundation they are working for is for children cancer. They are hoping for this drug to help more children just like the girl they helped in the article.
ReplyDeleteNot to repeat what everyone else has already said, but I agree that trials should be continued on both rats and children. The more data gathered the better. For the children clinical trials it would be a the last option. If the parents are already facing a fatal end, the TR100 drug could give them one last final ray of hope. I think parents would be happier knowing that they've tried everything to save their child, and knowing that the outcome of their participation, good or bad, can help another family facing their same situation down the line.
ReplyDelete