A Positive Look At Cancer Research
The New York Times is printing an optimistic article on the state of cancer research: "For the first time, we have the tools needed to attack the problem... We're close to being able to put our arms around the whole cancer problem. We've completed the list of all cancer cells needed to create a malignancy, and I wouldn't have said that five years ago. ... It's starting to come into focus how one might target the problem. Individual cancers are going to fall one by one by targeting the molecular abnormalities that underlie them. ... Seeing cancer become more like what has happened with AIDS would not be shocking. Does that mean cure? Not necessarily. We may see patients treated until they die of something else." Cancer, like neurodegeneration, results from age-related cellular damage that must be repaired or prevented if we are to greatly extend the healthy human life span.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/health/27canc.html?pagewanted=print