Scientists Eye Gene Studies Of Patients With Dramatic Response To Cancer Treatments.

scientists are looking for clues in genes of people called “exceptional responders,” those who have defied “all expectations by responding dramatically to a cancer drug.” The paper cites the example Grace Silva who had a “horrible” form of thyroid cancer but still remains alive after four years of diagnosis, citing a story in the New England Journal of Medicine. The NCI has launched a nationwide search for people like Silva in an attempt to decipher the genetic changes that allowed them to respond so dramatically to treatment. The paper notes that the journal “concludes with a lesson that may help doctors treat thousands of other patients with more common cancers, like breast and bladder cancer, and even help them find an alternative when a common drug stops working.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/health/in-genes-of-exceptional-responders-clues-to-fighting-disease.html?ref=health&_r=0