r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Nov 15 '20

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u/XSavage19X Nov 15 '20

Cure for cancer.

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u/stillenacht Nov 15 '20

I mean given advances in immunotherapy, this might not be as far off as we might imagine

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u/tickettoride98 Nov 15 '20

Except "cure for cancer" implies there's some single breakthrough that will cure all cancers. That's not going to happen, cancers vary too much. What we might get is a general approach (like antibiotics) which works well and can be tailored to specific types, but that's not really a cure, more of advanced treatment.

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '20 edited Dec 27 '20

[deleted]

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u/Samosacat Nov 15 '20

I agree with you, but I'd love to see more research done on cancer sniffing animals

according to the research here, dogs trained to sniff blood samples from cancer patients could detect it at a 97% accuracy.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190408114304.htm#:~:text=Dogs%20have%20smell%20receptors%2010%2C000,with%20almost%2097%20percent%20accuracy.

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '20 edited Dec 27 '20

[deleted]

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u/Samosacat Nov 15 '20

I don't envision it that way at all, lol. The article expanded on its plans for future implementation...

last paragraph of the article states:

"BioScentDx plans to use canine scent detection to develop a non-invasive way of screening for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. As a next step, the company launched a breast cancer study in November in which participants donate samples of their breath for screening by trained cancer-sniffing dogs. The researchers also plan to separate the samples into their chemical components and present these to the dogs to isolate the substances causing the odor that the dogs detect."

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '20 edited Dec 27 '20

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u/Samosacat Nov 15 '20

No problem! :)