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As soon as we hear the name cancer, chemotherapy and bitter medicines come to our mind, but do you know that a ‘natural medicine’ that can defeat cancer can be present within our body itself? Scientists have recently done a research which shows that the immune system of some people not only recognizes cancer but also stops it from growing. Now efforts are being made to transform this natural defense mechanism into a new medicine.
Often we believe that cancer spreads in the body without treatment and proves fatal. But many such cases have been seen in the medical world where cancer, despite being present in the body, neither grows nor shows any symptoms. According to the news published in the New York Times, Dr. Edward Patz of Duke University has been doing research for decades on how some people survive with cancer for a long time even without any special treatment.
Dr. Patz has conducted in-depth examinations of the tumors and blood samples of hundreds of cancer patients over the past 25 years. He wanted to know what was so special about the bodies of patients who recovered quickly or whose cancer did not return. After years of hard work, they found a big clue in the yellow part of the patients’ blood (serum) – a special type of antibody, which they named ‘GT103’.
Research revealed that the condition of lung cancer patients in whom this ‘GT103’ antibody was naturally present in their body was much better than others. Dr. Patz felt that if this antibody was prepared in the lab and turned into a medicine, it could save the lives of millions of patients who do not have this protective mechanism in their bodies. With this big goal, he started his company ‘Grid Therapeutics’.
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The first test of this new medicine was conducted on 31 lung cancer patients on whom all the old treatment methods had failed. The results of the test conducted on this small group were quite interesting. In about one-third of the patients, cancer growth stopped for at least some time. Doctors observed that after taking the medicine the tumor remained intact and did not harm other parts of the body.
During this test, a ‘miracle’ happened to a patient which no one had expected. Dr. Hirwa Mamdani told that after some time of giving the medicine, the tumor of that patient completely disappeared. The surprising thing is that in the scans being done for the last two years, not a single trace of cancer has been found in that patient’s body. Although this is the case of only one patient, but it has taken the enthusiasm of scientists to the seventh sky.
Now scientists are testing this antibody by mixing it with the famous immunotherapy drug named ‘Keytruda’ to make it more powerful. Dr. Patz believes that his drug kills cancer cells directly, while Keytruda further activates the rest of the body’s immune system. If these two medicines work together, it will be very easy to eliminate cancer.
Experts say that this idea is really great, but the journey is still very long. Cancer expert Dr. Roy Herbst of Yale University said that often drugs that appear successful in initial trials fail in large-scale trials. Therefore, it may take a long time for this medicine to come in the market and reach common patients and many rigorous tests are yet to be done for it.
