As Charles Xavier and Jean Grey of the X-Men have said, “Every now and then, evolution takes a step forward.” It can feel like cancer research moves as fast as evolution. However, there is good news. Cancer research took a great step forward. The Mayo Clinic has announced a recent discovery in one of their clinical trials.
The clinic announced on May 13th, 2014, that they had successfully used a modified measles vaccine to fight myeloma, a cancer of the blood. In the video they posted, they interviewed Stacey Erholtz about receiving the treatment. The video is amazing and inspiring to watch. The innovation used in oncolytics has come a long way. There is now the ability to personalize a virus to attack specific cancer cells. Doctors do warn that we should not be popping the champagne corks just yet.
While the results are remarkable, they are successful in one of two patients. This still leaves a lot of work, and a lot of trials to be done, before this treatment can be produced en masse. Any oncologist will tell you, every cancer is specific to the DNA code of the person it afflicts. It will take time to refine the process. This is a challenge that requires more attention, and more people to be aware of it.
If anyone is looking for a challenge to create, this would be a great submission to HeroX. How do we refine a treatment that is genetically coded to the person we want to treat?
It’s a challenge like this that should be created, and then solved. The innovations to cure cancer are happening every day, we just need to give them a bump in the right direction.
photo: Dr. Stephen Russell, Mayo Clinic
