>For those unaware, Chemotherapy and Radiation are probably some of the least-precise medical treatments we apply on any broad scale today in modern medicine. We try to radiate or kill your cancer cells before we kill the rest of your body. Seriously.
This is very true. I think the most exciting developments in cancer treatment in the past decade have all been targeted therapeutics: drugs that are designed to affect the function of just one particular protein in a cell rather than the "kill anything that moves" action of traditional chemotherapy. These targeted treatments are only effective against the subset of tumors that rely on that particular protein. For example, Trastuzumab and family only help about 10% of breast cancers that have highly amplified Erbb2, but you can test ahead of time to find out if it will likely help you.
I find great hope in this approach. It's possible that in a decade, with a much greater repretoire of anti-cancer chemical weaponry, much better genomic diagnostics, and much better understanding of how genes interact to cause cancer and evade treatments, we could squash a huge percentage of cancers, even pancreatic, brain, and ovarian cancers. Every tumor would have a custom-designed cocktail of off-the-shelf drugs.
This is very true. I think the most exciting developments in cancer treatment in the past decade have all been targeted therapeutics: drugs that are designed to affect the function of just one particular protein in a cell rather than the "kill anything that moves" action of traditional chemotherapy. These targeted treatments are only effective against the subset of tumors that rely on that particular protein. For example, Trastuzumab and family only help about 10% of breast cancers that have highly amplified Erbb2, but you can test ahead of time to find out if it will likely help you.
I find great hope in this approach. It's possible that in a decade, with a much greater repretoire of anti-cancer chemical weaponry, much better genomic diagnostics, and much better understanding of how genes interact to cause cancer and evade treatments, we could squash a huge percentage of cancers, even pancreatic, brain, and ovarian cancers. Every tumor would have a custom-designed cocktail of off-the-shelf drugs.