{"id":943,"date":"2007-12-21T10:44:11","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T10:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jwalking\/2007\/12\/new-cancer-war.html"},"modified":"2007-12-21T10:44:11","modified_gmt":"2007-12-21T10:44:11","slug":"new-cancer-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/12\/new-cancer-war.html","title":{"rendered":"New cancer war?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Important and fascinating story<\/a> in today’s New York Times about a new theory in cancer treatment – a theory about to be tested in humans:<\/p>\n

Within the next few months, researchers at three medical centers expect to start the first test in patients of one of the most promising \u2014 and contentious \u2014 ideas about the cause and treatment of cancer.
\nThe idea is to take aim at what some scientists say are cancerous stem cells \u2014 aberrant cells that maintain and propagate malignant tumors.
\nAlthough many scientists have assumed that cancer cells are immortal \u2014 that they divide and grow indefinitely \u2014 most can only divide a certain number of times before dying. The stem-cell hypothesis says that cancers themselves may not die because they are fed by cancerous stem cells, a small and particularly dangerous kind of cell that can renew by dividing even as it spews out more cells that form the bulk of a tumor. Worse, stem cells may be impervious to most standard cancer therapies.
\nNot everyone accepts the hypothesis of cancerous stem cells. Skeptics say proponents are so in love with the idea that they dismiss or ignore evidence against it. Dr. Scott E. Kern, for instance, a leading pancreatic cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said the hypothesis was more akin to religion than to science.
\nAt stake in the debate is the direction of cancer research. If proponents of the stem-cell hypothesis are correct, it will usher in an era of hope for curing once-incurable cancers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There have been too many false hopes on the cancer front for too many years. But one day one of these hopes will become reality and what a day that will be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Important and fascinating story in today’s New York Times about a new theory in cancer treatment – a theory about to be tested in humans: Within the next few months, researchers at three medical centers expect to start the first test in patients of one of the most promising \u2014 and contentious \u2014 ideas about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"yoast_head":"\nNew cancer war? - J Walking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/12\/new-cancer-war.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New cancer war? - J Walking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Important and fascinating story in today’s New York Times about a new theory in cancer treatment – a theory about to be tested in humans: Within the next few months, researchers at three medical centers expect to start the first test in patients of one of the most promising \u2014 and contentious \u2014 ideas about…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/12\/new-cancer-war.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"J Walking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-21T10:44:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Kuo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New cancer war? - J Walking","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/12\/new-cancer-war.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New cancer war? 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