The latest breakthrough in cancer treatment could prove to be “the cure” that kills it all, including a $50 billion-a-year industry. Dr. Carl June and his team at The University of Pennsylvania Medical Center have discovered a fresh, yet promising procedure that has leukemia patients marveling and pharmaceutical companies weary.

On August 10, 2011, the New England Journal of Medicine announced that the Alliance of Cancer Gene Therapy funded a clinical trial performed on three patients with the most common type of blood disease, chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The innovation that genetically alters T-cells and infuses them back into the body after chemotherapy has astonishingly decimated over six pounds of cancer in 28 days. All three terminally ill subjects have been in remission for over 10 months with two of the three having no trace of malignant cells, and the other with 75 percent shrinkage in the tumor.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. alone averages 15,000 new cases of leukemia every year, killing 4,300. The only treatment available is to undergo chemotherapy and radiation to stall the disease, and life-threatening bone marrow transplants to aid in remission. Dr. June said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg, “This is like a bone marrow transplant where the patient is the donor…this might make treatment more widely available with less long-term toxicity.”

His new procedure takes a small sample of the patient’s own T-cells extracted from their blood, and genetically modifies them to recognize cancer cells. They are then mixed with genetically harvested T-cells that have a similar coding to the HIV virus in the sense that they multiply 1000 fold when infused back into the body. Four days after chemotherapy, when the white blood cells are at their lowest and weakest points, the new genetically altered T-cells are given in one dose for three days, and act as replacement “serial killing” cells. Dr. June said of the research, “the results exceeded our expectations quite a bit.” Oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. David Steensma, who wasn’t involved in the study said, “[the army of T-cells] not only has attacked and cleared the field but it’s also set up a patrol to make sure the enemy doesn’t come back.”

So if a potential cure has been found, then why is there a lack of funding for further research and clinical trials? Both the pharmaceutical industry and the government’s National Institute of Health have denied financing this project and many others in the past. An ongoing battle since the 1970s has prevented a cure from obliterating not only a life altering disease, but also that of a lucrative cancer industry.

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Burrowed amongst extensive X-Games construction and L.A. Live weekend traffic, the historic South Central L.A. Tea Party held their first rally on July 24, 2011 outside the 102nd NAACP National Convention in Downtown Los Angeles to challenge the racist allegations against the Tea Party movement. During this busy Sunday afternoon, Tea Party advocates from all over Southern California came together on the lawn of the L.A. Convention Center in support of their newest members. In addition to signs that read “Give Me Liberty, Don’t Give Me Debt” and “Spread My Work Ethic, Not My Wealth,” there were signs that called the NAACP “Morally Bankrupt” and “Pro-Union, Anti-Black Citizens” which had some NAACP proponents booing and honking for the protestors to go home.

While the crowd robustly chanted “Tea Party No Retreat” and “Obama Stop Lying,” more heated NAACP supporters stood on the outer edge of the rally, contentiously spewing opposing views and yelling “the Tea Party is racist!” Still other adversaries coming from the convention peacefully gathered around to listen to the speakers and interact with the multi-racial crowd. When Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, organizer of the South Central L.A. Tea Party, took to the mic and proclaimed, “It’s not about being black, it’s not about being white, it’s about protecting America,” the 200 plus Tea Party members cheered.

Amid the array of enthusiasts was political activist Ted Hayes, Jr. who elaborated on the purpose of the South Central L.A. Tea Party gathering, “It will cause Black people to think. It gives us an option…hopefully, Jesse Peterson’s controversial step will cause Black people, even though to disagree with him, to at least consider what wrong with him, what he’s thinking about, and maybe they will find their way.” Having just come from the NAACP convention himself, The Tygrrrr Express conservative columnist, Eric Golub, said in defense of the NAACP, “It’s not a bunch of raving leftist preaching death to Republicans, it’s about medical and health issues, and the Army and Marines are in there.” A collected man promoting the decency of the NAACP added that an award ceremony for Black students who did well in school was taking place at that very moment.

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