Article
Scientist's Selfless Act Could Provide a Lead for Treating TNBC
Dr Koss refused preoperative chemotherapy to avoid damaging her virulent cells, which could later be cultured and could likely provide therapeutic leads.
This year, an estimated 232,000 American women will learn they have breast cancer. On April 28, Kim Koss found out she was one of them.
She took the news as many women do, with shock, fear and sadness. Two weeks later, the news got worse. Hers was a triple-negative cancer, a fast-growing form not fueled by the estrogen, progesterone or HER2/neu gene that are at play in most breast cancers. It meant commonly used drugs and treatments have little benefit for her.
The implications were not lost on Koss, who has a doctorate in biomedical sciences and years of experience with cellular research. Her prognosis was listed as “poor.” “I knew what I was facing,” she says.
It could have immobilized her. Less than a month after her diagnosis, though, her scientist side took charge of what the patient side could not.
Original report: http://cin.ci/1m5Jkn4
Source: Cincinatti
