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Treating pancreatic tumours may have revealed cancer's master switch

85 pointsby andsoitistoday at 1:34 PM16 commentsview on HN

Comments

gcanyontoday at 3:51 PM

As is often the case, the title is hyperbolic. The discovery applies to 20% of tumors, and "one of cancer's significant defenses" or "a key weakness of cancer" would be more accurate.

That said, I'll happily take "we discovered a key weakness in 20% of cancers," please and thank you.

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pdar4123today at 4:20 PM

Please remember that science is under attack in the United States - new proposals would gut the nih even beyond the horror that is ongoing. As a scientist I am horrified and I truly hope that we don’t abandon the usas historically strong investment in the future.

gavinraytoday at 4:35 PM

To offer context for others:

The bigger deal about this is that KRAS was considered an "undruggable" target.

Recent advancements have allowed us to design biologics to do things we previously thought impossible, which broadens the horizons for other treatments in the future.

Baby steps.

ispeterstoday at 3:25 PM

https://archive.ph/d4mT2

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variety8675today at 3:36 PM

The study this article references is here: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06625320

an0maloustoday at 4:01 PM

I’m surprised Michael Levin’s research hasn’t expanded much beyond a certain YouTube media bubble. They’re able to start and stop cancer growth with only voltage changes between cells, likewise they can also trigger regeneration or anatomical changes using voltage changes. His research seems to suggest a lot of important anatomical plans are stored in an electric field around the body, not in the DNA. This model’s explanation for cancer is that some cells become disconnected from this field and start growing independently of the overall body plan.

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DivingForGoldtoday at 3:26 PM

Thanks for posting useful link !