4 ms·

Nanoparticles Show Quick and Easy Way to Target Cancer

vissidarte_choi 3y ago
Many people live with cancer cells and tumor until the end of their life. Further, is it a vain attempt to dream of clearing off cancer? Cancer can arise from nowhere. Even if the nanoparticles are cleared, there will be even smaller sub-nanoparticles... So I would argue that targeting at the visible things is not the right solution. Finding out the pathogenic mechanism is.
- hilbert42 3y ago
  You're likely right, and the many approaches to tackling the disease seem almost endless. There's been stories like this for as long as I can remember. When I was a small kid before starting school my mother took me to a movie matinee and during the newsreel feature there was a story about fighting cancer and afterwards I asked her about it, so as not to scare me she said it's a rare disease and you'll not have to worry about it. It wasn't long before I found out the truth when several years later the woman—a lifelong smoker—living next-door to my grandmother died of the disease. Those early incidents stuck in my mind so I've always been acutely aware of announcements like this for as long as I can remember, and I don't think a week has gone by without me hearing or reading about one. It occurred to me a while ago that if say 0.1% of those announcements had fulfilled their promise the disease would likely have been eradicated by now. I'm not decrying the efforts of researchers for a moment nor do I deny progress has been made but there's just something about this disease and research that attracts media attention no matter how small it is. I'm not sure that so much publicly is a good idea as it gives victims false hopes, especially so if the research hasn't proved effective in the clinical environment.
  - vissidarte_choi 3y ago
    Agreed on the role that the media play: false hopes + exagerated terror. Implying the victims can only be saved by cutting-edge technologies, which are prohibitively pricy.

Many people live with cancer cells and tumor until the end of their life. Further, is it a vain attempt to dream of clearing off cancer? Cancer can arise from nowhere. Even if the nanoparticles are cleared, there will be even smaller sub-nanoparticles... So I would argue that targeting at the visible things is not the right solution. Finding out the pathogenic mechanism is.

hilbert42 3y ago
You're likely right, and the many approaches to tackling the disease seem almost endless. There's been stories like this for as long as I can remember. When I was a small kid before starting school my mother took me to a movie matinee and during the newsreel feature there was a story about fighting cancer and afterwards I asked her about it, so as not to scare me she said it's a rare disease and you'll not have to worry about it. It wasn't long before I found out the truth when several years later the woman—a lifelong smoker—living next-door to my grandmother died of the disease. Those early incidents stuck in my mind so I've always been acutely aware of announcements like this for as long as I can remember, and I don't think a week has gone by without me hearing or reading about one. It occurred to me a while ago that if say 0.1% of those announcements had fulfilled their promise the disease would likely have been eradicated by now. I'm not decrying the efforts of researchers for a moment nor do I deny progress has been made but there's just something about this disease and research that attracts media attention no matter how small it is. I'm not sure that so much publicly is a good idea as it gives victims false hopes, especially so if the research hasn't proved effective in the clinical environment.
- vissidarte_choi 3y ago
  Agreed on the role that the media play: false hopes + exagerated terror. Implying the victims can only be saved by cutting-edge technologies, which are prohibitively pricy.