Scientists have come close to solving the problem of cancer. Using gene therapy, they were able to completely cure malignant tumors in laboratory mice. And it would seem that the day is not far off when chemotherapy will be completely replaced by gene therapy, and cancer will no longer be considered an incurable disease, but...

A group of American scientists led by Professor Chung Li published the results of their work in the journal Cancer Research. Doctors managed to cure experimental mice of cancer, and the malignant tumors disappeared and the animals’ immune systems were completely restored. A mutated gene was injected into the bone marrow of mice, which activated the activity of their own immune system. As a result, the animals’ bodies coped with the cancer problem almost independently. In this way, scientists managed to defeat a variety of types of tumors - skin cancer, prostate cancer and lung sarcoma. 70% of laboratory mice with skin cancer fully recovered, as did 80% of animals with prostate cancer. Remarkably, all mice that did not receive this injection died from the disease. The gene introduced into the mice not only forced the immune system to work actively, but also blocked any attempt by cancer cells to “hide” and disguise themselves.

Inspired by the success of the study, doctors were about to test their development on people, however, as it turned out, such tests were still a long way off. Many experts from major research centers have expressed doubts about whether this treatment is worth testing at all. Which is quite logical - the discovery of a panacea for cancer will be a financial ruin for companies producing insanely expensive chemotherapy drugs. Which is often carried out more than once...

A breakthrough in the treatment of cancer occurred in the forties, when in Nazi Germany doctors conducted experiments not on mice, but directly on people. And all the drugs available in the arsenal of modern oncologists were developed based on the achievements of German scientists. From an ethical point of view, this is certainly unacceptable, but such a long delay in finding a cure for cancer is due precisely to the fact that new drugs are practically not tested on humans - that is, on precisely the individuals who will be treated with these drugs. So gene therapy, which is quite likely an effective cure for cancer, has a long way to go before it is used in practice.

based on materials from The Sun

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