Submitted by skraddleboop t3_1064128 in Futurology
drzimmer t1_j3h5g18 wrote
Reply to comment by inblue01 in New Study Uncovers Potential Target for Stopping 90% of Cancer Deaths by skraddleboop
I agree the title is definitely clickbait. But I do think it has potential because of the fundamental nature of viscosity which can differ in body tissues which can be explored for therapeutic benefit. Im curious though, what are your reasons for why it won’t work?
inblue01 t1_j3j2zwe wrote
Mostly this: targetting the metastatic process (that is the dissemination of cells originating from the primary tumor) is in most cases irrelevant because a) in the great majority of cases of cancers that will eventually lead to death, the diagnosis occurs when a tumor has already metastasized. This approach won't cure pre-existing mets, which are generally responsible for the lethality of cancer. And b) if you don't have mets yet, in the vast majority of cases, surgical removal of the primary tumor is the obvious solution. The only application that I can see is if you have a non-metastatic tumor which is not operable. It happens but is certainly by far not the majority of cases. So implying that you might stop 90% of cancer deaths is just plain wrong.
There are additional mechanistic reasons but I think that alone is sufficient to relegate this process quite low in terms of likelihood of sucessful prevention of cancer-related death.
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