Chemotherapy breakthrough could dramatically reduce side-effects

This sounds like a massive breakthrough, so I would keep an eye out for future developments on this story

Cancer researchers have developed a "smart bomb" treatment that can target tumours with drugs while leaving healthy body cells intact. The technique means that patients will suffer fewer side-effects from the toxic drugs used in chemotherapy.

The side effects of cancer are well known and are very debilitating, they can often contribute to the ultimate cause of the death.

In experiments on mice, Laurence Patterson of the University of Bradford found that he could localise a cancer drug to the site of tumours and thereby limit its toxic impact in the body. All the animals, which had been implanted with human cancer cells responded to the targeted treatment and saw their tumours shrink. In half the animals, the tumours disappeared altogether. Professor Patterson will present his work at the British Science Festival in Bradford on Monday.

In the experiments, he said, all the mice responded to the treatment. "Sometimes, the treatment is so effective, you remove the ability of that tumour to grow – you appear to cure the mouse. In some studies, we were able to cure half the mice: these animals no longer had any tumour growing in them and they appeared healthy for the 60 or so days of the trial."

One very important use of the technique is that it can reach tumours that have spread throughout the body; this would be able to combat metastatic tumours.

Chemotherapy breakthrough could dramatically reduce side-effects

There are side effects to EVERYTHING medicalwise

reply to post by TegReturns


Yes, and that's why the title says "could dramatically reduce side effects" and not "completely eliminates side effects from appearing"

Chemotherapy is a barbaric way to treat cancer I wonder why it has taken this long to try to find ways to stop the damaging effects of chemotherapy with another more friendly to the body approach.

reply to post by marg6043


Yeah, the earliest attempts at medicine or treating a disease are often of low efficacy or high risk; using mercury to treat illnesses, for example. But as the area gets researched more and the knowledge of that condition increases, the treatments tend to become less dangerous and more efficacious.

I hope that as more becomes apparent in the field of oncology, safer treatments and cures will be developed

I was reading up on chemotherapy when I was being treated for Hodgkins Lymphoma. I read Hodgkins is one of the few types of cancers where chemo is actually effective. With a combination of chemo, radiation, and surgery I have been in remission for about two years. I was one of few lucky ones, most of the people I met getting chemo didn't pull thru. Part of that was my age as I was only 29 at the time, but the main reason is that the treatment is so harsh. I am suffering various long term health effects the worst being degenerative lung scarring that has knocked back my lung capacity down to 52% at my last session. Even though I'm grateful to still be alive my quality of life has been drastically lowered. When the cancer comes back I will definitely be walking into the clinical testing office to try alternative treatments.