Chrissy
Simon
Could
This Be The End Of Cancer?
Shari Baker was diagnosed with stage IV
(metastatic) breast cancer in 2005. To combat the cancer, she began searching
for a clinical trial and through the International Cancer Advocacy Network, she
learned about cancer vaccines. In May 2006, she traveled to the University of
Washington and received a vaccine injected into her upper arm. Over the next
five months, she got five more shots. Today, scans detect no cancer anywhere in
her body. Researchers have a
good idea of how the vaccines worked because of studies done by scientists on
lab animals and cells in petri dishes. First, the vaccine contained fragments
of a molecule called her2/neu. This molecule encourages the growth and propagation
of some breast cancers when it is suspended on the surface of tumor cells.
Baker’s immune system treated the stream of injected her2/neu like an invading
army and counterattacked. Next, cells called CD4, acted like biological Paul
Reveres, sounded the alarm, and stimulated white blood cells called T cells.
The body’s Minutemen activated reinforcements called cytotoxic T cells, which
invaded Baker’s tumor. Finally, the T cells destroyed the tumor cells in Baker’s
breast as well as her spine.
I think that this article is extremely
important to society. After decades of hopelessness, scientists have hit on a
potential cure that few thought possible a couple of years ago. If they
succeed, cancer vaccines would change future treatments. They could end the
need for chemotherapy and radiation. Both of which can have horrific side
effects, which tumor cells often become resistant to, and which often do not
help cure the disease much. Vaccines could make these treatment options a thing
of the past and could make cancer as preventable.
The article does a good job of
explaining how the vaccine works in a way that the average person can
understand, using analogies from the American Revolution. Also, the author
provides numerous examples of different vaccines that are being tested. The
article also does of a good job of explaining the importance and significance
of the information it presents. However, there are some areas that the author
of the article could have improved on. For example, the author does make some
assertive statements without explaining why. For example, when the author
discusses radiation and chemotherapy treatments and because the side effects
could be so detrimental, some alternative practitioners recommend against it,
the author states, “Following that
advice can be fatal.” The author does not explain why that could be the case. In another part of the article, the author
writes, “cervical cancer vaccines….target cancer causing viruses; most cancers
aren’t caused by viruses.” The author does not explain the contradiction
included in the sentence. The article is packed with many facts and examples. However,
at some points, it seems that the author may have included too much information
to convince the reader about the importance of the cancer vaccine. Overall,
however, I really enjoyed reading the article and learned so much about a
possible cure for cancer.
Citation: "Could This Be The End Of Cancer?" Newsweek. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. <http://mag.newsweek.com/2011/12/11/could-this-be-the-end-of-cancer.html>.
Link: http://mag.newsweek.com/2011/12/11/could-this-be-the-end-of-cancer.html
I thought that Chrissy presented the article very well. She explained the topic of the article very well – I was easily able to understand what the cancer vaccine was and how it worked to treat cancer. I also thought that she did a very good job explaining how important this could be to our society. If cancer can be prevented, it will save thousands of lives all across the world. This treatment is much easier on the body than chemotherapy, which is basically killing the body along with the cancer, so this could be a very important breakthrough. I also thought that she did a good job using quotes from the article to express what she thought was confusing and didn’t make sense. Looking at those quotes and at the article itself I can see how it was confusing, but by focusing on those areas I was able to figure it out for myself.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I thought Chrissy could have done better was to use fewer words and phrases directly coming from the article. It might have been better if she put it into her own words more, so that we could get more of her view on the topic, and not just the author’s view. Another thing that I think Chrissy could have done better was to explain that although it seems like a major breakthrough, the vaccines are really only in their early stages of development, and in some cases it seems more like a magic trick than medicine – the vaccine affects some people much more than others, completely eradicating their cancer, which might not have much to do with the vaccine at all, and could just be luck instead. That would be unfortunate, but it is a possibility.
One interesting thing I learned from the article was how powerful the human immune system is. It can heal itself from incredibly harmful illnesses and injuries, which I find fascinating. This ties in to the placebo effect as well, which is really just using the power of the mind to heal the body. It is surprising how things that don’t seem like they would be related to medicine can actually be a key to healing the body.
When reading Chrissy’s report on the article, “Could This Be The End Of Cancer?,” I saw how much of a great job she did reviewing and summarizing the original work. When reading the title and how it mentioned cancer, I expected it to be a very complex and challenging report to comment on, but once I started to read her response, I realized how simple Chrissy was able to word very advanced science. I found her connection to the other types of possible cures very insightful, because she presented how much better the use of cancer curing vaccines could be than cures such as chemotherapy and radiation. Chrissy also observed a very important flaw in her critique of the article, because the article, although in some cases very thorough, did not explain or defend some of their assertive statements.
ReplyDeleteEven though the work that Chrissy presented was done quite well, it did lack in a few places. Her article was written almost two years ago, and since then, millions of dollars have been poured into cancer research, and it would have been helpful to know some of the newer possible cures for this deadly disease. Chrissy also stuck to the storyline of Shari Baker in her report, but the article included many other interesting fact about breast cancer and its possible cures, and if she were too look at her report again, it would have brought her review to a new level of insight. However, Chrissy’s report did a wonderful job explaining and discussion and very prevalent topic, and I enjoyed reading it very much.
I found her report to be very interesting, especially since I had never heard of these vaccines, even though they have been being used for over two years. I also found it interesting how the vaccine does not cure the tumor immediately on contact, but rather contain a molecule that encourages an increase in breast cancer, thus causing a person’s body to send certain cells to outcast those new molecules, ultimately destroying the tumor.
I read the article "could this be the end of cancer" by Chrissy simon. this was an very interesting topic and i enjoyed her analysis of how the vaccine worked. One of the things I liked was how she described how each step of the treatment took place. I also liked how she explained the biological terms so they are easy to understand. Chrissy's style of writing is easy to read and puts a picture in your mind of the things she is describing. some things that I would improve is the section where she talks about how it affects everyday people. I would include how it could help humanity and include statistics of that nature. Another thing I would change adding the rate of success if this vaccine. Does it only work for breast cancer or other cancers in the body? An interesting thing I learned for this article is how a cell can alert other white blood cels to attack a certain part of the body. Overall, I though this was a really good article. it was well written, informative and on a interesting topic.
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ReplyDeleteI thought that Chrissy did a very good job reviewing the article, “Could This Be The End of Cancer? The review clearly described the article in a way that was easy to follow and understand. I liked how the review began with background information about how Shari Baker was involved with this clinical trial of cancer vaccines. Also, the way she described how the vaccine worked was interesting because she used all of the correct scientific names and you would expect that it would be difficult to follow, but it was actually very simple. I also thought that he explanation on how important this could be to our society was very interesting because cancer is a disease that each year globally 12. Million people learn that they could die from. I also liked how she incorporated information from the article in the form of quotes because it gave us a good sense of what the author was actually saying.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I thought she could have changed was in the beginning she could have given more information about other types of cancer vaccines that are in clinical trials and how successful those vaccines are. Also, this article may not have the most current information because it was written about two years ago and each year there is more and more cancer research as well as success stories. Also, another change that I thought Chrissy could make to her review is to add how this type of vaccine could impact our society and the other types of cures that are currently being used to treat cancer such as chemotherapy and radiation. Would these still have to be used? Also, I would have reworded some of the information in the background to put it into your own words and make it clear what you thought about the article.
Overall, I thought Chrissy’s review was very interesting because I didn’t even know that vaccines would be able to cure cancer. I found it very interesting that the immune system in humans actually able to attack the tumor with cytoxic T cells.