From the first moment
my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from
the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer
seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did
little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known
reason, I started this blog…
Every month, I’ll be
highlighting breast cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from
different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into
understandable English and share them with you. Today: http://www.crownbio.com/knockout-jab-breast-cancer/
NOT TODAY OR TOMORROW!!!!!
But maybe someday in the not-too-distant-future!
One of the things that sometimes bugs me about science
fiction that’s supposed to be set in the distant future, is when they pull a
stunt with the sole intent of making the “futuristic story” relevant to today.
I’m reading a novel right now in which soldiers swear with the “f-word”. I can’t
help think, “Oh, come on! You don’t REALLY think cuss words are going to stay
exactly the same and have the same shock value five hundred or a thousand years
in the future, do you?”
Another one, this time relevant to breast cancer, is when
the President of the Twelve Colonies on the re-imagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is
diagnosed with breast cancer. “At her doctor's appointment, Roslin is told that
she has breast cancer and a year to live.”
Far be it from me to second-guess a writer and argue for
dramatic impact, but this society has TWELVE separate worlds it governs; it has
the capability to build (from scratch) TWELVE massive, monstrous, huge star
ships capable of traveling at trans-light speeds – but not a single person ever
thought to apply technology to breast cancer research?
Thanks be to God we live in this society! While the BC
vaccine is by no means “just around the corner”, there is excellent evidence
from a few small studies that it may be something that young adults may experience
as a matter of course. There’s a glimmer of hope of creating a vaccine against
breast cancer!
Something called “Mammaglobin-A (MAM-A) is overexpressed in
40% to 80% of primary breast cancers.” Because it is so common in breast
cancers, researchers can use it as a marker – like a blinking light on top of a
water tower! – and design T-cells (also known as white blood cells – the kind
that fight disease and infection in Humans) that will specifically attack and
eat the cancer cells. “This makes MAM-A a great target for a new cancer therapy
as it could hopefully be used for the vast majority of patients with early
stage and metastatic disease, where the protein is also found to be
overexpressed. The vaccine works by priming white blood cells to target and
destroy other cells presenting MAM-A, and the vaccination study was the first
of this type against this target.”
The time is not ripe for celebration – the time IS right to
get yourself involved with Relay For Life, the Susan B. Kommen Race For The Cure,
or to write your checks to your local breast cancer – ANY cancer research – organizations!
I and my wife are walking in the Relay For Life sponsored by the high school I
work at and our sister high school across the district. (I don’t have a sponsor
page up yet, but it WILL be here! http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY15MW?pg=entry&fr_id=66722)
Resources: http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/20/23/5964.abstract,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Roslin,
http://www.crownbio.com/knockout-jab-breast-cancer/
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