Miraculous Treatments on the Horizon
Scientists have pushed the envelope into the unknown, the impossible, and the unethical since the beginning of science. Recently scientists have researched ways to treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis, cancer, aids, and several more devastating diseases with no known cures. Scientists have found promising treatments using gene therapy, cloning, and stem cells. There are very few treatments using these techniques that have been approved by the FDA and in turn there are very few labeled as a cure. Many of these treatments are also not available for the public at large, and in order to receive treatment you have to participate in a clinical trial. These …show more content…
William Ludwig joined a clinical trial when his chemotherapy was no longer working. In the trial doctors removed a billion of his t-cells and reprogramed his cells with new genes, that were programed to kill William’s cancer cell. After the transfer of the t-cells he suffered from high blood pressure and a very high temperature. He was placed in intensive care, and doctors feared the worst. Ten days later they found no cancer cells in his body. Months later Mr. Ludwig is still cancer free. The article also tells a story of a woman who received the same treatment for her colon cancer; but she died as a result of the treatment. The protein target on the cancer cells shared the same protein with her lung cells. Another concern of this treatment that was mentioned is that the results of the mass amount of proteins that are released can be …show more content…
Based off of the little evidence provided for the treatment, the article made the treatment out to be a viable and emerging cure. In the second article there was only one procedure done using this technique, and the article most defiantly overstated the opportunity of this procedure and others like it. As said in the article the procedure was done by the best, “Dr. Macchiarini is a leader in the field of tissue engineering, in which the goal is to produce replacement tissues and organs outside the body” (Fountain). The conclusion of this article inferred that these procedures can be readily preformed, but Dr. Macchiarini’s qualifications played a major role in this treatment’s