Every schoolchild knows the story of the Trojan horse. The Greeks, feigning defeat, left the huge wooden sculpture as a gift for the Trojans, but inside, according to the Aeneid, they had hidden an army of elite warriors.
The mythic tale is an apt metaphor for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a promising new approach that uses antibodies to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to tumors (“Special Delivery,”). An ADC certainly transformed Colorado sculptor Shelley Kerr’s prognosis, and she in turn evokes the ancient subterfuge in her sculpture Breakthrough (“The Art Of Living With Cancer.”).
Outsmarting tumors takes new science. But it also takes new ways to navigate a knowledge explosion. In “Patient, Know Thyself,” Mark Hoffman learned enough from the chronic lymphocytic leukemia community to ask a question that may have saved his life. In “A Multiple Myeloma Diary,” Kellie Smith chronicles the close collaboration between her hometown oncologist and an academic cancer center expert.
There are many ways to get smarter in this issue. In Care & Treatment get the latest on COVID-19 protection as well as the HPV vaccine and cervical cancer prevention, and discover the best diet for immunotherapy. In News, learn how tennis great Chris Evert’s attention to the latest genetic research led to an early-stage ovarian cancer diagnosis. Learn about bladder cancer, breast cancer surgery, LGBTQ resources and malnutrition prevention.
A cancer diagnosis can also be a teacher. For patient advocate Dena Battle, her husband’s cancer diagnosis helped her understand “The Futility of Catastrophic Thinking.” For Lesley Kailani Glenn, a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer helped her remember how to breathe again. What would you like to learn more about? Please take our Reader Survey.
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