Commonly, cancer is well known as a severe, serious disorder. Actually, it is true: even in 2020, about 606,520 people died of cancer in the United States. They are always with our humanity and have an amazing impact on our life. We have tried to devise a technology that can completely remove cancer, but it has been impossible. However, several researchers in Korea have found a glimpse of the end of long failure.
Cancer is a disease characterized by the expression of abnormal cells that go through uncontrollable cell division playing detrimental roles in body tissues. It is also called a “malignant tumor” that the oncogene promotes. Oncogene is a specific gene that causes cancerous variation in the human body, generating cancer cells.
Moreover, unlike normal cells, cancer cells have very distinct features. Firstly, they replicate continuously. Since cancer cells exceed Hayflick’s limit (G0 Checkpoint), they can consistently elongate their telomeres (chromosomal termination) by an enzyme Telomerase. Furthermore, they can evade growth suppressor signals. In normal cells, they are completely controlled to grow in the G1 Checkpoint; however, cancer cells circumvent this normal growth checkpoint. Then, they have a resistance to cell death because they are less sensitive to DNA damage and growth factor deprivation, leading to avoiding apoptosis. For example, anti-apoptotic types genes such as BCL-2, MCL-1, CED-9, etc can be developed in the cancer cells. Besides, cancer cells have altered metabolism. More specifically, they undergo the Warburg Effect: unlike normal cells that go through oxidative phosphorylation in both directions, cancer cells undergo anaerobic glycolysis, leading to biomass incorporation and cell proliferation. This characteristic allows for positron emission topography.
As cancer cells have special hallmarks, we have several distinct treatments for cancer. To begin with, chemotherapy is one of the most common cures. The first type of chemotherapy is to interfere with the replication of DNA of cancer cells. The chemicals injected can inhabit base pairs of cancer cells and topoisomerase that unwind DNA during replication or cell division by blocking microtubules via vincristine and taxanes. Moreover, doctors often use immunotherapy. This method enhances the patient’s immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells as normal cells do. This approach employs an immune checkpoint inhibitor: an important part of the immune system to check to keep protected from external damage and maintain homeostasis. Accordingly, the medicine blocks PD-1, improving the immune response to the threat of cancer cells. Moreover, anti-PD-1 blocks the interaction between PD-1 and PDL-1, triggering the activation of T-cells. However, As many know, those methods have many side effects: for example, chemotherapy kills normal cells as well, worsening our overall body function. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a noble treatment for cancer.
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For this purpose, our researchers have begun researching the genetics of cancer cells. According to the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), they can develop a technology that only kills cancer cells without damage to normal cells: CINDELA. Whereas traditional cancer treatments harmed the double helix of DNA, CINDELA can selectively delete mutant DNA unique to the cancer cells by CHRISPR-Cas 9: a genetic scissor that cuts the specific part of DNA by Cas-9 enzymes. Specifically, researchers can find unique InDel mutants. By programming CHRISPR-Cas9 to remove these mutants, we can selectively kill and prevent cancer cells themselves and their further spread. Furthermore, while traditional methods to cure cancer were ineffective to detect cancer cells and create genetic scissors specific to one’s symptoms, considering that CINDELA is not limited to specific mutants, this technology is highly practical to be employed in our world. Further research on this technology is carried out in this field to deploy it in real life.
Analysis
In my viewpoint, this research will be a great starting point to ‘beat’ cancer. Moreover, not only for their cancer but also for all disorders, it will provide an opportunity for humanity over diseases. Throughout our history, humanity was the only organism rapidly becoming the top of the food chain. However, human beings were always defeated by diseases. Moreover, they have had a tremendous effect on our world history: hundreds of Europeans were able to kill tens of thousands of Americans thanks to the spread of diseases like smallpox. If Americans can prevent them, the long chain of colonization in America did not begin. Currently, it is the time to defeat illnesses, not to be defeated by them.
References
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=88131
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/survivors/patients/treatments.htm#:~:text=Common%20Types%20of%20Cancer%20Treatment,-Cancer%20treatment%20may&text=Surgery%3A%20An%20operation%20where%20doctors,rays)%20to%20kill%20cancer%20cells.
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