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The unprecedented case of a woman who would have survived 12 tumors could help “cure cancer” according to scientists.
The story could come from a superhero movie. It is nevertheless very real and relayed by The Sun November 2: a woman in her forties whose identity is kept secret, is said to have survived 12 tumors since childhood. A case never seen before, which is of particular interest to scientists and gives hope in cancer research.
A genetic mutation at the origin of his tumors
The article recounts that the middle-aged woman experienced her first tumor in her early childhood, before “stringing them together” over the years. 5 of them turned out to be cancerous, multiplied to infect several areas and organs of his body. According to analyses, the origin and multiplication of these tumors are due to a genetic mutation found in both parents of the patient.
A riddle that could pave the way for future treatments
The doctors also observed that in this woman, the immune system naturally generated a strong anti-inflammatory response capable of fighting these tumors. It is this answer that particularly interests them. For now, the exceptional case of this survivor remains an enigma.“We still do not understand how this individual was able to develop in the embryonic stage or overcome all these pathologies”, Professor Marcos Malumbres of Spain’s National Center for Cancer Research told The Sun. But getting to understand how this patient’s immune system works could help boost the immune system in other sick patients. The research also hopes to be able to identify the cells in this woman’s body that could turn into a tumour, ahead of current clinical tests and diagnostic imaging.
Isn’t advancing research a bit of a power to put on the shoulders of a single patient? However, the opportunity here is far too rare to miss out on hope. In the history of medicine, no other such case has ever been observed before.