Still early days
In 2008, a national newspaper ran a headline stating "New hope of cure for all cancers", and the story got widespread coverage across the media.
But what exactly was this amazing breakthrough?
Far from being a new drug for patients, the researchers had discovered the molecular structure of telomerase - an important cancer protein - in a species of tiny beetle.
Although the discovery was important from a scientific point of view, there’s still a long way to go before this knowledge is translated into new drugs for patients.
Every week we see science stories in the media based on results from cells grown in the lab, or animal models such as worms, fruit flies or mice.
In many cases these results are interesting, but much more work needs to be done to prove a benefit for humans.
For example, back in 2007 another national paper ran a story with the headline “Cough syrup - the new cure for prostate cancer”.
In fact, the researchers had tested a purified chemical called noscapine (which is found in low amounts in certain cough syrups) in mice that carried prostate cancer cells. This certainly doesn’t mean that cough syrup itself is a cancer cure for men.
Headlines can often over-inflate the science presented in the rest of the story. So it’s important to read the whole story carefully, to check whether the research is still at an early, experimental stage, or whether it is actually being used to treat patients in clinical trials.
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