Researching Miraculously Cured Cancer Patients
Scientists are looking at cancer patients who participated in experimental drug trials and who responded to the treatment and were cured. Using DNA sequencing technology, scientists want to find out if these patients have gene variations that can be used to create better treatment approaches, targeted therapies, and reuse experimental drugs that were once discarded as failures. One such case is that of Jan Crisitello, a 70-year-old advanced melanoma patient, who enrolled in a drug trial by Pfizer, Inc, along with 28 others. She was the only one who responded to the drug, and her cancer is now in remission. She is now being studied to see how her genes may have helped her recovery.
Approximately, 10% of patients respond to experimental drugs which, however, end up getting rejected by US regulators. The National Cancer Institute and other academic cancer centers, such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and Dana Farber, are collecting data on these exceptional responders to study them. More….
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