Almost 50 years ago, Richard Nixon "declared" war on cancer. It was a futile effort which indirectly ended in Max dying of cancer and might kill me one of these days too.
Where did Nixon and others go wrong?
No amount of money can end cancer, period.
For starters, we need rudimentary data from cancer patients and non-cancer patients to even think about ending cancer. Without relevant data - all efforts to end cancer is futile. All fancy talks are sheer nonsense.
So if you are donating money for some organization to support cancer then understand giving your data is more precious than money.
Yes, Max and I have donated our genes to microbiomes in the past 15 years to support research on healthcare. What is the point of living my life if I cannot do this continuously before I kick the bucket?
Some good news; CAR-T cell therapies for leukemia showed great results. But understand - this inference is based on 2 patients. Yes, 2 data points (one can now understand how deprived the world is of healthcare data) and we have no idea of CAR-T cell actually cured it or it was just small factor in a complex system.
A few weeks after receiving an experimental cancer therapy that turns immune cells into tumour-killing hunters, Doug Olson’s doctor sat him down to give him news of his progress. “He said, ‘Doug, we cannot find a single cancer cell in your body,’” Olson recalls. “I was pretty convinced that I was done with cancer.”
Olson’s doctors, however, weren’t so sure. The year was 2010, and Olson was one of the first people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia to receive the treatment, called CAR-T cell therapy. When his doctors — including Carl June and David Porter at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia — wrote the protocol for the clinical trial that Olson was involved in, they hoped that the genetically engineered cells might survive for a month in his body. They knew that cancer research could be heartbreaking; they didn’t dare to expect a cure.
But more than ten years later, the immune cells continue to patrol Olson’s blood and he remains in remission. June is finally ready to admit what Olson suspected all along. “We can now conclude that CAR T cells can actually cure patients with leukaemia,” June told reporters at a press briefing describing results that were published in Nature on 2 February.
White House announced a more sensible approach to reduce cancer death (remember, they are still focusing on prevention more than actual cure):
Taken together, these actions will drive us toward ending cancer as we know it today.
There’s so much that can be done.
- To diagnose cancer sooner — Today, we know cancer as a disease we often diagnose too late. We must increase access to existing ways to screen for cancer, and support patients through the process of diagnosis. We can also greatly expand the cancers we can screen for. Five years ago, detecting many cancers at once through blood tests was a dream. Now new technologies and rigorous clinical trials could put this within our reach. Detecting and diagnosing cancers earlier means there may be more effective treatment options.
- To prevent cancer — Today, we know cancer as a disease we have few good ways to prevent. But now, scientists are asking if mRNA technology, used in the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to teach your body to fight off the virus, could be used to stop cancer cells when they first appear. And we know we can address environmental exposures to cancer, including by cleaning up polluted sites and delivering clean water to American homes, for example, through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
- To address inequities — Today, we know cancer as a disease for which there are stark inequities in access to cancer screening, diagnostics and treatment across race, gender, region, and resources. We can ensure that every community in America – rural, urban, Tribal, and everywhere else – has access to cutting-edge cancer diagnostics, therapeutics, and clinical trials.
- To target the right treatments to the right patients — Today, we know cancer as a disease for which we understand too little about why treatments work for some patients, but not for others. We are learning more about how to use information about genetics, immune responses, and other factors to tell which combinations of treatments are likely to work best in an individual patient.
- To speed progress against the most deadly and rare cancers, including childhood cancers — Today, we know cancer as a disease for which we lack good strategies for developing treatments against many of the more than 200 distinct types. We can invest in a robust pipeline for new treatments, and the COVID-19 pandemic response has demonstrated we can accelerate clinical trials without compromising safety and effectiveness.
- To support patients, caregivers, and survivors — Today, we know cancer as a disease in which we do not do enough to help people and families navigate cancer and its aftermath. We can help people overcome the medical, financial, and emotional burdens that cancer brings by providing support to navigate cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.
- To learn from all patients — Today, we know cancer as a disease in which we don’t learn from the experiences of most patients. We can turn our cancer care system into a learning system. When asked, most people with cancer are glad to make their data available for research to help future patients, if it can be done easily while respecting their privacy. Additionally, the diverse personal experiences of patients and their families make their input essential in developing approaches to end cancer as we know it.
I always said some of the big leaps in cancer research is going to come from dogs. Because dogs don't care about sharing their data. The company AnimalBiome is doing research to understand relationship between the microbiome and cancer:
In the last decade, research on the microbiome has exploded in human medicine, primarily due to advances in technology that allowed scientists to take a closer look at this enormous group of organisms. Veterinary scientists were quick to adopt the new technology to look at the microbiome of animals.
AnimalBiome co-founder and Chief Science Officer Dr. Holly Ganz recognized the potential of the microbiome both from a diagnostic standpoint and also as a therapeutic target. Fecal samples have been collected from Study dogs each year they have participated in the Study. We also have information about the dogs’ health history, medications taken and diet. The combination of data and specimens provides a unique opportunity for Dr. Ganz’s team to learn more about links between the types and abundance of certain gut organisms and disease.
Over the next two years, AnimalBiome will analyze 2,100 stool samples from the Study to better understand the relationship between dog microbiomes and cancer, as well as other health outcomes.
How do they do it? Because they get data from Neo, Fluffy and Garph. There is no magic bullet.
Neo, Fluffy, Garph and millions of other data from other pets will indeed help us make a small leap in understanding cancer. One data point from Neo is important than empty rhetoric and dollars.
Check out the one and only healthcare dataset of 270 million plus Americans that exists even after 4 decades!
No comments:
Post a Comment