New Breast Cancer Research Is Just The First Step

Added: 11/27/2005

There are so-called breakthroughs in genetic research related to new breast cancer treatments all the time. However, that does not mean that these leaps in understanding will lead to new breast cancer treatments immediately. For example, a new estrogen treatment is being refined which will save countless lives, but it will probably take years for scientists to learn enough about the gene involved to be able to implement this new breast cancer estrogen treatment.

While there are rumors about a scientific breakthrough in cancer research and an exciting new breast cancer treatment every day, it is rare that a new breast cancer related finding really seems like the first step to a new breast cancer treatment. However, many medical experts agree that at this point in our battle against the world-wide epidemic of breast cancer, the most likely area of research to give birth to a new breast cancer treatment is the area of genetics. The more we learn about the effects of genomes and DNA on why and how women develop the disease, the more likely we as a society will be to create new breast cancer treatments which will actually work to cure the disease.

One of the biggest problems that scientists have faced when tackling the problem of creating new breast cancer treatments is making the decision on where to start their battle. Within the heading of "breast cancer" there are innumerable variations on and branches of the disease, which makes finding a new breast cancer treatment that will work for every patient afflicted with the disease essentially impossible. However, some scientists have been making headway by chipping away at specific variations of the disease.

Recently, researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have uncovered data about estrogen-induced breast cancers and a new breast cancer gene that may lead to a new breast cancer estrogen treatment. The team of researchers, working under a grant from the National Institute of Health, discovered a gene that they've proved suppresses the normal function of estrogen receptors. This means that it inhibits breast cell growth, which leads to the conclusion that it could perhaps act as a tumor suppressor that would stop cancerous cells from spreading through the breast. This means that a new breast cancer estrogen treatment may be on the not too distant horizon.

However, it will take a long time and a lot of resources will need to be invested in research before this potentially life-saving estrogen treatment can be applied. Developing new breast cancer treatments is not an overnight process, and many scientists will have to keep working for many years to refine this knowledge into an applicable form of estrogen treatment. However, the more we understand as a whole society about the relationship between our genetic makeup and the development of cancer, the more likely we will be to be able to develop successful new breast cancer treatments based in gene therapy.

Genetic answers to the question of how to cure cancer are quite likely to be the future of cancer related medicine. Our greatest leaps in scientific knowledge in the modern age are likely to be in the area of genetics related research, and one of our greatest questions which we are seeking an answer to is how to successfully treat and eventually cure breast cancer.

Given these circumstances, it is a quick leap to understanding that the cure for breast cancer is likely to be discovered in the genetic realm. However, that does not mean that the process of discover new breast cancer treatment methods will be fast or simple.

Rate this article:

Bad

Good

Article comments:

No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!

Return to top of the page