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There aren’t many things in the world everyone can agree on but I don’t think I’ll ruffle too many feathers by saying “Fuck cancer.”
If that happened to offend you I’d highly suggest you take a look at your priorities.
Around one-third of the population will be diagnosed with some form of cancer over the course of their time on the planet, but even if you manage to avoid that fate, there’s still a virtual certainty you’ll be impacted by the disease to some degree at some point in life.
I personally know a couple of people who’ve battled with (and, thankfully, defeated) cancer and have been touched and inspired by countless stories of patients I’ve never even met who faced it with more bravery than I’ll ever be able to fathom.
People smarter than myself have been trying to find a cure for cancer for more than a century and the scientific community has made some incredible leaps and bounds over that period of time in regard to both treatment and understanding.
However, according to a report by The Jerusalem Post, we might only be a year away from what may be the biggest breakthrough in the history of mankind.
WARNING: SCIENCE AHEAD
At the turn of the millennium, a biopharmaceutical firm called Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies (AEBi) set up shop in Israel and began to conduct research related to the therapeutic benefits of peptides, which are chains of amino acids that help facilitate a number of biological functions by sending signals throughout your body.
The company harnesses a technology called “phage display,” which allows researchers to see how proteins interact with bacteriophages, a virus capable of infecting bacteria.
Scientists can use phage display to see how peptides interact with the body and AEBi managed to figure out a way to engineer peptides that are capable of honing in on harmful cancer cells.
Most traditional cancer treatments simply target a specific area of the body but are incapable of differentiating between healthy and infected cells. However, AEBi claims they’ve come up with a way to infect peptides with a cancer-killing toxin that only attacks the cells that have it coming to them (they’ve dubbed the treatment “MuTaTo,” which is short for “multi-target toxin”).
According to AEBi’s Dan Aridor, the technology can be used to create what is essentially a customizable treatment plan for patients diagnosed with any form of cancer and could make its mark on the world sooner than you’d think:
“We believe we will offer in a year’s time a complete cure for cancer.”
“Our cancer cure will be effective from day one, will last a duration of a few weeks and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market. Our solution will be both generic and personal.”
It’s worth noting more than a few medical professionals are skeptical of the claim and that the (non-peer reviewed) research is based on clinical trials conducted on mice—not humans—so it’s unclear if it’s really as revolutionary as AEBi claims.
I guess I’ll check back in a year.
[Forbes]