According to American Cancer Society, there will be approximately 1,762,450 cancer cases diagnosed in 2019 alone. This is an extremely large portion of the human population and it is absolutely startling. Luckily, there have been many advancements over time and doctors and researchers are working eagerly to discover more effective treatments. One of these discoveries being that new algorithms are able to forecast a ton of gene interactions.
Stephanie Allen, a researcher at the University of Sussex states that by being able to predict the interactions amongst genes, the effectiveness of cancer treatment can be greatly improved. Because everyone’s body is different in some way, scientists believe that there should be more unique treatment plans to properly diagnose and treat one with cancer. Currently in our world today, there are many cancer-related therapies that utilize the gene relationship known as synthetic lethal interaction. With much gratitude being shown to artificial intelligence, researchers and scientists working along with the Institute of Cancer Research in London have succeeded in developing an algorithm with provides them with predictions on where these interactions might take place.
I can see how this can be deemed as extremely beneficial because a lot of times you hear or read about cancer treatments diminishing cancerous cells but harming other healthy organs during the process. Knowing where the synthetic lethal interactions take place will enable drug treatments to target and fight cancer cells while the healthy human cells remain unharmed which will only create a more essential and tender treatment for cancer patients. Graeme Benstead-Hume, a doctoral student at the University of Sussex stated that ‘with breast cancer, we’ve already noticed that these more unique therapy treatments can be achieved by finding synthetically lethal pairs of proteins.” This is a very time-consuming process, but these skilled scientists are able to speed up the process with their findings. Although we still have a long way to go, I’m sure this is like music to the ears for most, for me at least.
This hits home because my grandfather was diagnosed in 2018 with Stage IV Lung Cancer in March of 2018. He fought a long hard battle while he was here on this earth. Unfortunately, he recently succumbed to the cancer and passed away. Although, I know he is in a much better place free of pain and suffering, I just wish that there was more that could have been done. I just wish there was a cure or more effective treatment. With such advanced technologies, I almost find it hard to believe that there isn’t already a cure discovered. He put up a strong fight, but his body eventually became weak after so much chemotherapy treatment. If only these advancements were further along, I wonder if he would still be here with us today. If he were given more personalized treatment, treatment that fought off the cancer without destroying his other internal organs. Although my grandfather’s battle has been fought, I would love to see other cancer patients receive more effective treatment along the way.
Hopefully, we will soon see a decrease in the monstrous number of cancer cases in the world today. We have overcome so much as a people and I’m sure we can continue this climb by finding more effective treatment for patients with cancer worldwide.
