Tri kratke priče o raku

by Miloš Miljković

Kratke za NYT.

In Gene Sequencing Treatment for Leukemia, Glimpses of the Future

Genetics researchers at Washington University, one of the world’s leading centers for work on the human genome, were devastated. Dr. Lukas Wartman, a young, talented and beloved colleague, had the very cancer he had devoted his career to studying. He was deteriorating fast. No known treatment could save him. And no one, to their knowledge, had ever investigated the complete genetic makeup of a cancer like his.

(via NYTimes.com)

New Frontiers of Cancer Treatment Bring Breathtaking Swings

Mrs. McDaniel, the 69-year-old wife of a retired corporate executive, had gambled on the ultimate in personalized medicine, an approach known as whole genome sequencing, and it seemed to be paying off.

Scientists had compared the entire genetic sequences of the tumor cells invading her body with those in her healthy cells, searching for mutated tumor genes that could be thwarted by drugs approved for other cancers or even other diseases. That had led them to give her an expensive drug approved just a month earlier for melanoma patients. It had never been given to anyone with a blood cell cancer like hers. In theory, the drug should have killed her. Instead, it seemed to have halted or even reversed her cancer.

But would it last? And what would it mean if it did not?

(via NYTimes.com)

Genetic Test Changes Game in Cancer Prognosis

In May 2011, Cassandra Caton, an 18-year-old with honey-colored hair and the soft features of a child, suddenly went blind in her right eye. Five months later, an ophthalmologist noticed something disturbing. A large growth in the back of her eye had ripped her retina, destroying her vision.

(via NYTimes.com)

Zajedničko za sva tri: stotine hiljada dolara godišnje potrošeno za ne baš ubedljive rezultate: produženje života za par meseci, poboljšanje kvalitet života bez produženja, ili smanjenje neizvesnosti prognoze, dobre ili loše. Ovo u Evropi nikada ne bi prošlo, naročito u britanskom NHS-u. Sa druge strane, negde mora da se počne.