DailyDirt: The Fight Against Cancer Continues...

There have been some pretty wild treatments for cancer, from modifying HIV and creating a gene therapy approach... to using genetically-engineered bacteria or radiation to attack cancer cells. Over the years, there have been quite a few promising studies that haven't amounted to practical treatments. There will probably never be a silver bullet, but until medicine figures out how to beat a lot more cancers, there's always more research to be done.

• Reprogramming cancer cells can make them normal cells again, providing a potential cancer treatment. The discovery of how to turn off the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells will need more time to develop into a practical cancer therapy, but this is encouraging work towards a fundamental understanding and possible cure. [url]
• Aspirin (aka "wonder drug") seems to keep finding more uses. It's not just a headache medicine or a drug that can prevent the risk of heart attacks, but it might also help boost the effectiveness of some cancer treatments. [url]
• An implantable "cancer sponge" could soak up rogue cancer cells before they spread to other organs and give doctors a better early warning detection system. The implant is made from an FDA-approved material already used in surgical sutures, and it seems to work in mice studies. Obviously, it'll take a while before human studies are complete, but this could be a much more convenient and less risky way to detect cancer in its earliest stages. [url]

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