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Saturday, 28 September 2013

Cancer Research & The Idea Of Regenerating Cells

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By Robert Sutter


An article on Zee News talked about a new finding that can potentially become bigger in the field of cancer research. More specifically, it has to do with the cells in the brain and the possibility of them being regenerated. This is tremendous for those who have been invested in this type of research for quite some time, especially with the current methods put into place today. Why is it that this particular idea holds so much potential importance, you may be wondering to yourself?

Chemo and radiation therapy alike are two of the elements that have been linked to cancer research and for good reasons. They are viewed as the standard but I don't know if many people understand the setbacks that radiation in particular can have. If this is done in great enough doses, then it is possible for cells in the brain to become damaged, unable to be repaired again. I feel as though the idea of new methods coming to light is the focus of organizations along the lines of Voices against Brain Cancer

The study that the article went into detail about reported on how a study was done at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine by Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, M.D. It was done in order to see how neural stem cells, where new brain cells originate, function. Utilizing mice, it was found that said stem cells are actually resistant to radiation. The reason why this is so important is because they can be brought from their hibernation-like state in order to create new cells in order to replace the ones that have been damaged.

What grabbed my attention as well was that patients with brain cancer were not the only ones who could potentially be assisted. According to the article, those with other neurological diseases may be assisted, seeing as how their conditions rest primarily in the brain. In addition, they can become worsened as the brain suffers from damage over the course of time, rendering the body weaker in turn. This goes for conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's; as you can imagine, these are only a few.

It seems like more and more information is uncovered in the field of cancer research and I, for one, am happy to see them come to the surface. I believe that there is so much that can be done in this type of field and I believe that it's just a matter of progress from this point going forward. Stories like these can only aid researchers in their efforts. The fact that such work is being done at this moment only makes me hopeful that better results will be seen before long.




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