Maria

Wow: that study ties in well with the Slate article on the problems with using mice tumors. The 3 D model makes perfect sense. But I wonder how encouraging this story is to researchers who are stuck using the standard Petri dishes due to grant constraints and realistically won't have access to the 3 D model.
I'm also not sure how encouraging these far off in the future "breakthrus" are to patients who are even less fond of being nearly done in by TX than their doctors.
I don't think I will see any successful alternatives to radiation & chemo come to fruition in my lifetime although I certainly hope that I am wrong.

Charm

I guess I am more optimistic as I have just had my own medical miracle - going from being severely depressed and barely able to walk with RA/Lupus three months ago to an almost normal riding lesson this morning. I am very lucky. My miracle drug is an anti-malerial - someone discovered that it just happened to work for inflammation/auto-immune disorders.

Future breakthroughs are encouraging from the standpoint of recurrence: they would be among the first to get a crack at the therapy in a phase I or II trial, or in a special exemption for non-trial use of our highly theoretical breakthrough therapy.

Another horrid disease - Altzheimer's - is better understood today than it was a year ago. But this doesn't help my father-in-law who is suffering from it right now.

But, yes, I do think you are wrong and you will see a breakthrough for OC in your lifetime.

Maria

Congratulations. I do believe in miracles. Glad one happened to you. I hope all these new approaches work also. We will just have to wait and see.
Charm

http://oralcancernews.org/wp/lab-made-tissue-picks-up-the-slack-of-petri-dishes-in-cancer-research/

We had it up a while back. hate to keep saying it, but the news feed from OCF doesn't miss much.