Daniel Strain's article "Crushing Cancer's Defenses" in Science News talks about the possibility of creating a new "therapeutic cancer vaccine". This vaccine would not be intended to prevent cancer, but to treat it. It relates the white blood cells in the body to a Greek army, signifying that they are constantly fighting bacteria and viruses to maintain our body healthy. White blood cells play a key role in helping the body fight threats. It mentions that cancer is not an "ordinary enemy" and that white blood cells lose the battle against cancer most of the time. The immune system is the one that has the white blood cells and fights against threats to our body. These cancer vaccines would only enhance the immune system to help it fight the cancer cells attacking it. The vaccines would not prevent Cancer; they would treat it. Scientists still do not think that these vaccines can do the job alone. People will also continue to need therapies to treat Cancer. These vaccines have been studied for a long period of time, now is that they are gathering proof that they actually work. In the late 1800’s, a New York City surgeon called William Coley started giving shots of killed pathogens, including strep bacteria, and they were shrinking the Cancer tumors dramatically in many of the patients. The patients being cured were patients who had a very advanced, or “incurable” Cancer. Radiation and chemotherapy gained more fame than Coley’s shots during the late 1800’s. The article claims that: “Today’s proposed vaccines are better sharpshooters than Coley’s original cocktail.” The vaccine is composed of a mix of dendritic cells and similar immune players directly from a patient and mixing them with protein.
The experiment in the article is an example of Hypothesis-based science because they propose and test a method of treating Cancer. First, they apply their knowledge to create a vaccine that they believe will help the immune system destroy carcinogenic cells, then they test it on Cancer patients. If it helps the patient, then it means the vaccine works. Cancer is one of the biggest killers in the world, and the rate of people dying from it is increasing every year even though there are many new treatments. A cure or a vaccine would greatly help humankind.
Author: Daniel Strain
Title of Article: Crushing Cancer's Defenses
Journal: Science News
Date Published: May 7, 2011
Page: 20-23
Image source: http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/july2008/images/vaccine_l.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment