Targeted molecular therapy for untreatable NF1 tumors

While this headline my seem a like an oxymoron, it's really good news.  As noted in doctortipster.com, “A targeted molecular therapy has been used successfully by researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to treat nerve tumours that appear in people with neurofibromatosis type 1.”

The article reports that “Nancy Ratner, PhD, principal investigator and the program leader for the Cancer Biology and Neural tumors Program, said it is the first time researchers could reduce the size of neurofibromas with a molecularly targeted therapy.”

For me, just reading about neurofibromas is scary. The article in doctortipster.com says that “neurofibromatosis type 1 is a genetic disorder that is manifested by hyperpigmented skin spots and tumors of the nervous system. Patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 have cafe au lait spots, neurofibromas, speech disorders, epilepsy, optic nerve glioma, bone disorders and others. The disease is progressive, some signs appear at birth while others appear with age.”

Here’s a link to the doctortipster.com article - http://www.doctortipster.com/12287-targeted-molecular-therapy-for-untreatable-nf1-tumors.html#ixzz2EwoXnozj

And for those of you that can read and understand dense scientific-speak, here’s a link to the research article in the Journal of Clinical Investigation: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/60578