Jeff Swensen for The New York Times
A recent New York Times article
exalts the resourcefullness of Doctors and Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania in using HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) to inject genes into immune cells which then target cancer cells. The resourcefulness is deserved.
Just the same, upon closer inspection, one discovers that the modified cells wipe out and entire class of immune cells known as B-Cells (where leukemias reside). Note both healthy and cancerous are destroyed, leaving the patient in a compromised state.
Moreover, the mass destruction of these B-Cells causes a cytokine storm, sort of a worst case immune malfunction.
The girl, whose life this treatment saved, almost died with a fever of 105 and was in coma. In the end examination, this treatment is a refinement of a full bone marrow transplant or all out chemotherapy. In this case, it is only slightly more targeted.
There are more truly alternative approaches to be examined in cancer treatment. In 2007 Dr. Evangelos Michelakis discovered that a small, simple chemical known as Dichloroacetate (DCA) was able to shrink a wide variety of tumours in mice. It acted in a novel way, by changing the metabolism of cells and revitalizing critical metabolic components needed for cancer cells to self destruct. Research along these lines has been blocked due to DCA’s lack of patentability, hence profitability for the pharmaceutical companies.
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Further information on DCA can be found at
