TeachableMedicalNews article 04282022
Teachable moment in classrooms:
- cellular basis of life chapter – concept of one gene, one protein
- cellular basis of life chapter – concept of gene mutation leading to protein malfunction
- cellular basis of life chapter – mitosis (somatic cell division) is stimulated from outside of the cell
- tissue chapter – epithelium types in the respiratory system
- respiratory system chapter – epithelial lining of the airways
The news item: Recently this news item appeared online about a new treatment for lung cancer:
New hope for patients with lung cancer
FDA approves Tabrecta™, a new treatment option, for adult patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer
The report states that lung cancer is the leading cause of death among cancers, and that there will be about 228,000 new diagnoses in the USA each year. The article also states that the drug Tabrecta helps patients to fight non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), that the drug works especially well against cancers driven by a Met exon 14 skipping mutation, and that each year about 4,000- 5,000 people in the USA are diagnosed with this subtype of NSCLC.
So, Why Do I Care?? Lung cancer is a deadly disease, so finding new treatment options improves the chance of survival when traditional treatments may not work, and, thus, lengthens the survival time after the diagnosis. Another reason to care is that this drug acts specifically on cancer cells that carry a particular genetic change, so this ability improves targeted attack on cancer cells, and avoid attacking the normal cells of the body.
Plain English, Please!!! First, let’s talk about just what NSCLC is. The NSCLC name represents a type of relatively slow-growing lung cancers that start in the mucous glands of the airways, or in the simple