by Lindsay Meyers
A recent study reviews the research of a new drug that is meant to treat Melanoma skin cancer. The drug which is now called PLX4032, has been proven to reduce if not treat Melanoma cancer. The research showed that the drug dramatically shrank the tumors. Paul Chapman at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York said 70 percent of patients with a particular gene mutation saw their tumors shrink when given the new drug PLX4032 (Reuters). Of the twenty-seven patients that were tested, two reported a complete disappearance of the cancer. This research took place in Berlin and Roche is developing with privately-held U.S. biotech company Plexxikon.
I think that this article was interesting because it shows that technology is so advanced these days that cancer is starting to be treatable. This article is related to Human Biology because it deals with cancer which is something that we covered in lecture. If this drug works many people will be saved because Melanoma skin cancer can spread to the brain or anywhere else in the body. This article touched me personally because my grandmother had cancer, not technically skin cancer but she had lymphoma cancer. If skin cancer can be treated then maybe down the road other cancers will be able to be treated. I think that if researchers continue to do their jobs that cancer will no longer be such a deadly disease.
