What is cancer?
The human body is made up of billions of cells. Throughout our lives, many of our cells die. Our body replaces these cells itself. This process of replacement of cells is controlled by the body. Sometimes cells start to grow too much, too fast and attack other healthy cells. The body cannot control them. This is cancer. The type of cancer a person has is defined by the area of the body where these abnormal cells are growing - for example, lungs, stomach, etc.
How is cancer treated?
No certain cure for cancer has been invented yet. The treatments that do exist try to stop the growth of cancer cells, but they are not always successful.
One widely used cancer treatment is chemotherapy. It attacks cancer cells to prevent them from replicating. But it causes a lot of side effects. That’s because it also damages some healthy cells and organs in the process.
What’s this new study that’s giving everyone so much hope?
On June 5th 2022, a new study was published about cancer medicine that took everyone by surprise.
Eighteen people with cancer took part in the study. They were given a medicine named dostarlimab for six months. Six months later, all eighteen people were cancer-free. The best part - no one experienced any side effects.
How was this medicine different from other cancer treatments?
Unlike other cancer treatments, dostarlimab doesn’t attack any cells. It focuses on teaching our immune system how to spot cancer cells. Once our immune system has figured out which cells to kill and which to save, it gets to work!
This study is the best news to have come out of the world of cancer ever. Dostarlimab has to be given to way more than eighteen people before doctors can claim they have invented a cure for cancer. But this study shows us we’re headed in the right direction.
It gives a lot of hope to anyone suffering from the cruel disease that is cancer.
