cancer genomes

ihatesnowihatesnow

http://www.genome.gov/page.cfm?hiltID=307&pageid=27549061#highlight-comments

gpawelski

How long until progress reaches the clinic? The mainstay of breast cancer treatment would be a cocktail of drugs, by mouth, like patients take for hepatitis C, tuberculosis or AIDS.

Cocktails: concoctions of two or more powerful cytotoxic agents which supposedly will attack the tumor in different ways. The ability of various agents to kill tumor and/or microvascular cells (anti-angiogenesis) in the same tumor specimen is highly variable among the different agents.

A diagnosis of AIDS was a death sentence until the advent of drug cocktails in the 1990s, which helped patients suppress the disease indefinitely. Now researchers say a similar combination strategy may change the course of cancer.

The application of synergy analyses (drug cocktails) may represent one of the most important applications of the functional cytometric profiling platform, enabling the exploration of both anticipated and unanticipated favorable interactions. Equally important may be the capacity to study drug antagonism wherein two effective drugs counteract each others’ benefits. This phenomenon, characterized by the whole being less than the sum of the parts, represents a major pitfall for clinical trialists who simply combine drugs “because they can.”

These analyses are revolutionizing the way newer classes of drugs are applied and has the potential to accelerate drug development and clinical therapeutics. Good outcomes require good drugs, but better outcomes require good combinations. Intelligent combinations are a principle focus of the functional profiling platform. It strives to identify the best outcomes for patients (not populations of patients).

Arnold Glazier, M.D., former Oncology Fellow at Johns Hopkins, in his book Cure: Scientific, Social and Organizational Requirements for the Specific Cure of Cancer," the consistent and specific cure or control of cancer will require multiple drugs administered in combination targeted to abnormal patterns of normal cellular machinery that effect or reflect malignant behavior. Finding the 'patterns' of malignant cells and developing a set of 5 to10 drugs in order to cure or control cancer."

sas-schatzi

permission to repost from Dunesleeper:

An hour ago dunesleeper wrote:

Here is something for you all to pass around to the various groups you belong to:Please join us on Monday, June 25th or Tuesday, June 26th for an important free webinar: Take Back Our Genes: Ending the Patent on Breast Cancer Genes to learn about how one company's control of the "breast cancer genes" creates barriers to research and testing that could endanger your health and compromise the healthcare of hundreds of thousands of women.

In 2009, Breast Cancer Action signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging Myriad Genetics' patents on our genes. The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Public Patent Foundation, challenges the legality of the patents that grant Myriad Genetics control over the BRCA1 and BRCA2 (the "breast cancer") genes.

Myriad's monopoly prevents anyone else from so much as examining the genes, and creates barriers to scientific research and medical care relating to breast and ovarian cancer. It also limits women's ability to get second opinions when they receive ambiguous test results, which happens disproportionately to women from ethnic minorities, including African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans.

Breast Cancer Action is the only national breast cancer organization named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. We are able to take this stand because we have no conflicts of interest: we don't take money from companies that profit from or contribute to cancer, and because our work demands that patients must always come before profits.

The webinar will be presented by BCAction's executive director Karuna Jaggar, Sandra Park, Staff Attorney for the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU and Runi Limary, breast cancer survivor and plaintiff. Topics we'll cover include:

Why BCAction opposes gene patenting and why the issue is important for women
The impact of gene patenting on underserved communities
The current status of the ACLU's lawsuit challenging the legality of patents on human genes
Real stories of women's experiences with gene patenting
How you can get involved

Join us on Monday June 25th 3pm PDT/6pm EDT or Tuesday June 26th 10am PDT/1pm EDT for this free one-hour webinar to hear the real story about the effects of gene patents on women's health and to join us in opposing corporate control over our bodies, our genes, and our health.

Register for Monday June 25th 3pm Pacific Daylight Time/6pm Eastern Daylight Time:  www3.gotomeeting.com/register/...

Register for Tuesday June 26th 10am Pacific Daylight Time/1pm Eastern Daylight Time:  www3.gotomeeting.com/register/...

For your convenience, we are offering the webinar at two different times. Click on the links above to register for the time and day that works for you.

Sincerely,

Sahru Keiser
BCAction Program Associate of Education and Mobilization

sas-schatzi

2 hours ago sas-schatzi wrote:

Just some random thoughts of a long ago government action. This will probably be covered in the webinar. Our US Congress allowed the patenting of genes b/c it was seen at the time as "an only" way to promote the research in all things genetic.. It was a financial incentive, to get entities to search out genetic causes of disease. Our government supported research universities and were given government funding to do the research and then patent the rights, but these rights didn't go to the people. They went to private researchers and corporations --paid for by tax dollars. Then we as taxpayers(plus our insurance companies) turn around and have to pay thousands of dollars for testing. This lawsuit is way late in coming. It may be difficult to get a positive adjudication for the people(us) b/c of the law that was written by congress(and lobbyist). But by history, our laws and governing have been changed by the WILL OF THE PEOPLE. Listening to this webinar, may guide us to that end.