Space is the Perfect Place to Study Cancer and Someday Even Treat It (space.com) 20
Space may be the perfect place to study cancer — and someday even treat it," writes Space.com:
On Earth, gravity slows the development of cancer because cells normally need to be attached to a surface in order to function and grow. But in space, cancer cell clusters can expand in all directions as bubbles, like budding yeast or grapes, said Shay Soker, chief science program officer at Wake Forest's Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Since bubbles grow larger and more quickly in space, researchers can more easily test substances clinging to the edge of the larger bubbles, too. Scientists at the University of Notre Dame are taking advantage of this quirk to develop an in-space cancer test that needs just a single drop of blood. The work builds on a series of bubble-formation experiments that have already been conducted on the ISS. "If cancer screening using our bubble technology in space is democratized and made inexpensive, many more cancers can be screened, and everyone can benefit," said Tengfei Luo, a Notre Dame researcher who pioneered the technology, speaking to the ISS' magazine, Upward. "It's something we may be able to integrate into annual exams. It sounds far-fetched, but it's achievable...."
Chemotherapy patients could save precious time, too. In normal gravity, they typically have to spend a half-hour hooked up to a needle before the medicine begins to take effect, because most drugs don't dissolve easily in water. But scientists at Merck have discovered that, in space, their widely used cancer drug pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, can be administered through a simple injection, because large crystalline molecules that would normally clump together are suspended in microgravity... Someday, microgravity could even help patients recovering from surgery heal faster than they would on Earth, Soker added. "Wound healing in high pressure is faster. That's the hyperbaric treatment for wounds...."
For the Wake Forest experiment, which is scheduled to launch next spring, scientists will cut out two sections of a cancer tumor from around 20 patients. One sample will stay on Earth while the other heads to the ISS, with scientists observing the difference. The testing will be completed within a week, to avoid any interference from cosmic radiation. If successful, Soker said, it could set the stage for diagnostic cancer tests in space available to the general population — perhaps on a biomedical space station that could launch after the planned demise of the ISS. "Can we actually design a special cancer space station that will be dedicated to cancer and maybe other diseases?" Shoker asked, answering his question in the affirmative. "Pharmaceutical companies that have deep pockets would certainly support that program."
Chemotherapy patients could save precious time, too. In normal gravity, they typically have to spend a half-hour hooked up to a needle before the medicine begins to take effect, because most drugs don't dissolve easily in water. But scientists at Merck have discovered that, in space, their widely used cancer drug pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, can be administered through a simple injection, because large crystalline molecules that would normally clump together are suspended in microgravity... Someday, microgravity could even help patients recovering from surgery heal faster than they would on Earth, Soker added. "Wound healing in high pressure is faster. That's the hyperbaric treatment for wounds...."
For the Wake Forest experiment, which is scheduled to launch next spring, scientists will cut out two sections of a cancer tumor from around 20 patients. One sample will stay on Earth while the other heads to the ISS, with scientists observing the difference. The testing will be completed within a week, to avoid any interference from cosmic radiation. If successful, Soker said, it could set the stage for diagnostic cancer tests in space available to the general population — perhaps on a biomedical space station that could launch after the planned demise of the ISS. "Can we actually design a special cancer space station that will be dedicated to cancer and maybe other diseases?" Shoker asked, answering his question in the affirmative. "Pharmaceutical companies that have deep pockets would certainly support that program."
Treat cancer in space (Score:2)
Nightmares incoming (Score:4, Interesting)
"But in space, cancer cell clusters can expand in all directions as bubbles, like budding yeast or grapes, said Shay Soker, chief science program officer at Wake Forest's Institute for Regenerative Medicine."
I can imagine a space lab where a culture mutates and gets out of control. Great visuals for a movie or video game, but not something I'd want to look at over dinner.
Re: Nightmares incoming (Score:2)
Can you see how humanity itself is a cancer spreading out of control over the poor Earth and now colonizing defenseless space, too?
Re: (Score:1)
Perhaps....you should be.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually this is a very standard Green viewpoint.
With my luck.... (Score:1)
With my luck, they would launch my sorry ass into space and just leave me there.
How would this even work? (Score:4, Interesting)
Someone needs cancer treatment. They spend weeks training to go into space, are launched, then spend a few days undergoing treatment then come back down? Who would even pay for this? No way insurance would cover it.
Even if they use the zero-g plane, that only gives 25 seconds of zero g conditions for every minute of flight.
While this is an interesting discovery, someone needs to figure out how to make it workable.
Re: How would this even work? (Score:2)
Why aren't you thinking Elyseum?
Re:How would this even work? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not only that but both launch and re-entry are physically taxing, as long as there are rockets involved. For someone who has cancer, that's probably not a good idea.
All-in-all, someone wasn't thinking through the details. Cancer drugs don't dissolve in water well, and so microgravity is the answer, rather than finding chemical agents that solve that problem in normal gravity? ... Really? ... Really? ... Really?
Re: (Score:2)
If you are dying from cancer you may very well be willing to liquidate your estate in order to pay for a cure. If Elon gets the Starship working as planned it might not even be very expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
Someone needs cancer treatment. They spend weeks training to go into space, are launched, then spend a few days undergoing treatment then come back down? Who would even pay for this?
People who can afford it. They refer to themselves as "your betters".
Saves precious time (Score:4, Insightful)
Sign me up. Sign up every multi millionaire with cancer. We'll be dead soon, so we don't care that we pushed our grand children off the climate change cliff.
I saved half an hour.
Contact (Score:3)
In the awesome movie Contact (based on Carl Sagan’s novel), the ultra-rich Hadden lives out the remainder of his life on a space station to prolong it because he has cancer.
Dumb writers (Score:2)
A) There's more radiation in space
B) Getting people to space puts their bodies under a lot of stress, and has its own risks
C) Most environments in space are not that clean/healthy even apart from the radiation
D) The costs involved make all this impractical for all but the very richest of people
Re: (Score:2)
D) The costs involved make all this impractical for all but the very richest of people
I personally remember when this applied to air travel.