Drivers & How Cancer Research Comes Into Play
Futurity.org posted an article talking about the idea of cancer research and I was drawn to it. It talked about the concept of drivers and how they are connected to any kind of tumor, whether in the brain or what have you. When you take down a driver, you bring down the condition that accompanies it but it is one of those that are far more complicated when you're talking about glioblastoma. Why is it that this condition is seen as one of the most important in the field?
Out of the many ideas that have been connected to cancer research in the past, glioblastoma has got to be the most common. The reason for this is not only is it seen as a prevalent type of growth but it is also the most aggressive in the field. As you can imagine, organizations the likes of Voices against Brain Cancer have given this idea a great deal of focus. "Drivers" is an interesting idea, though, and one worth granting the utmost attention to as well.
Well, the aforementioned article talked about how 15 percent of glioblastoma cases could be helped with current drugs. They are deemed safe as well, seeing as how they are FDA-approved, so in theory there should be no reason as to why patients should not be helped by them. However, it seems like earlier attempts have seen limited success because of how intricate these growths are. Being able to target all of the "drivers" may be seen as a challenge but I feel as though there is potential.
The Columbia University Medical Center performed a study and it was able to incorporate a few ideas, too. There was a tandem of high throughput DNA sequencing along with statistical analysis and it was able to bring the best kinds of results to the table. Driver candidates were put together in a list and it was able to help research immensely, as you can imagine. Seeing as how 140 tumor types were looked into, there was no limit as far as scope was concerned.
When it comes to cancer research in general, though, scope should be an important factor. After all, it is the type of component needed in order to bring the best kinds of results to the surface. You never want to limit the potential of results being founded and I feel as though this is what was kept in mind when this study was done. The "drivers" in question are very important when it comes to finding potential cures and I hope that more is done with them in mind.
Out of the many ideas that have been connected to cancer research in the past, glioblastoma has got to be the most common. The reason for this is not only is it seen as a prevalent type of growth but it is also the most aggressive in the field. As you can imagine, organizations the likes of Voices against Brain Cancer have given this idea a great deal of focus. "Drivers" is an interesting idea, though, and one worth granting the utmost attention to as well.
Well, the aforementioned article talked about how 15 percent of glioblastoma cases could be helped with current drugs. They are deemed safe as well, seeing as how they are FDA-approved, so in theory there should be no reason as to why patients should not be helped by them. However, it seems like earlier attempts have seen limited success because of how intricate these growths are. Being able to target all of the "drivers" may be seen as a challenge but I feel as though there is potential.
The Columbia University Medical Center performed a study and it was able to incorporate a few ideas, too. There was a tandem of high throughput DNA sequencing along with statistical analysis and it was able to bring the best kinds of results to the table. Driver candidates were put together in a list and it was able to help research immensely, as you can imagine. Seeing as how 140 tumor types were looked into, there was no limit as far as scope was concerned.
When it comes to cancer research in general, though, scope should be an important factor. After all, it is the type of component needed in order to bring the best kinds of results to the surface. You never want to limit the potential of results being founded and I feel as though this is what was kept in mind when this study was done. The "drivers" in question are very important when it comes to finding potential cures and I hope that more is done with them in mind.
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