Metro Herald, January 6, 2014

Page 1

Monday, January 6, 2014

Las Greyness

Rob steals the show at 70 »p13

Killer cancer killed off in just six days

A TREATMENT for one of the deadliest cancers has been uncovered by researchers who say it can wipe out the disease within a week. The new drug, which targets pancreatic cancer but could be just as effective at treating other kinds of tumours, is to be tested on humans later this year. If the trials are successful, the therapy, which destroys a protective coating around the diseased cells, could be available to patients within a decade. Research leader Dr Douglas Fearon said: ‘By enabling the body to use its own defences to attack cancer, this approach has the potential to greatly improve treatment of solid tumours. ‘That is not just restricted to pancreatic cancer but would be effective in many forms, including ovarian and lung cancer because they react similarly.’ Pancreatic cancer, which killed Apple founder Steve Jobs, actor Patrick Swayze and former Irish minister for finance Brian Lenihan is

by aidan radnedge

diagnosed in about 370 people in Ireland every year. Only four per cent of sufferers survive beyond five years after diagnosis. It is rarely detected early and is often too advanced to be treated but the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute researchers believe their new drug, known as AMD3100 or Plerixafor, could work even with late diagnoses. It breaks down a thick wall of chemokine protein which forms a protective barrier around pancreatic cancer cells and prevents the body’s T cells from breaking through to attack the tumour. The medicine works with other drugs to boost the helpful T cells’ activity. In tests on mice, virtually all the tumours were wiped out within six days – the first time this has been achieved in pancreatic cancer research. Human trials are now expected to start later this year at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

‘Approach could treat other forms’

JANUARY

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SNOW JOKE: If you’re feeling battered by the breezy few days we’ve had, spare a thought for our American brethren. After hammering the northeast, a snowstorm that is expected to bring their coldest weather in two decades is moving in on the mid-western states, with wind-chill forecast to bring temperatures down to a life-threatening minus-51C (minus-60 Fahrenheit) in some places. Here, Allan Umscheid feels the chill as he clears snow outside his premises in Lawrence, Kansas PICTURE: AP

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Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it


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