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: “A team from Ohio State University have
built a tool that could target cancer cell migration.”
The horror of
metastatic breast cancer (MBC) slapped me in the face again this week when a
friend of mine confided concerns that there were signs that his wife was
showing symptoms of MBC.
As I’ve reported
before, there are several kinds of MBC – primarily bone, lung, liver, and brain
MBC (If you’re interested in details, the posts below delve into the most
common five types):
MBC of the bones: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/12/encore-99-metastatic-breast-cancer-bone.html
MBC of the lungs: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/12/encore-100-metastatic-breast-cancer.html
MBC of the liver: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/12/metastatic-breast-cancer-liver-cancer.html
MBC of the brain: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2019/01/encore-102-metastatic-breast-cancer.html
Obviously
researchers have been searching for (among other things) reasons why SOME people get MBC and others don’t, and why SOME people have recurring cancers and others don’t.
“Researchers
believe electromagnetic fields can help. While this has been a point of interest for years, it is only recently that
experts have begun to unravel the mechanism.”
What’s THAT mean?
The paper is
complex and…um…was FANTASTIC to read because I actually still understand most
of the biology talk!
But to Summarize
In English…hmmm…that may be tough!
OK – some physics
first: if you take a bar of iron and push it through a coil of copper wire with an
electric current running through it (which makes a magnetic field), you generate electricity. That’s how the
motor in your dryer makes the tub spin. This is called an “induced (aka, you made
it on purpose) electrical field". Its abbreviation is “iEF”. At a certain
strength, you can make things move without touching them by using this iEF.
Certain iEFs are
known as tumor treating fields (TTFs). They’ve been reported to target dividing
cells (like cancer cells) and stop them from dividing and making more cancer
cells.
These researchers have found out that it possible to create a directional field that hinders (slows down or stops) the migration of MBCs in a test tube. The electrical engineers don't know exactly HOW it happens, but they think that with more research, they can devise a way to set up a sort of “electric fence” that keeps cancer cells from moving into other parts of the body.
These researchers have found out that it possible to create a directional field that hinders (slows down or stops) the migration of MBCs in a test tube. The electrical engineers don't know exactly HOW it happens, but they think that with more research, they can devise a way to set up a sort of “electric fence” that keeps cancer cells from moving into other parts of the body.
It’s HIGHLY
experimental, but the EFFECTS of the iEFs have been known for a long time: they can change the direction of moving cells. The next step is to see if the same fields can keep cancer cells in
experimental mice from moving from one place to another – also known as metastatic
breast cancer.
Resources: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326070.php,
https://www.verywellhealth.com/different-types-of-metastatic-breast-cancer-4154705
The Actual
Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0550-z.epdf
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