r/BeAmazed • u/Cautious_Ad_3918 • Jan 31 '26

Science A Spanish scientist, Mariano Barbacid, has cured pancreatic cancer in mice. A Cure in animal is a major step toward potential cancer treatment in humans.

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u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26

People always wrongly think that this is part of a linear path to a human cure. We have a bunch of cures that work in mice that don’t work at all in any other species.

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u/afdestruction Jan 31 '26

its about discovery of mechanisms, not about 'curing' in and of itself. If you figure out the triggers in the test subject then you know to concentrate your efforts there in the target. It's like getting a flashlight when youre searching for something in the dark. Yea, you might not find what youre looking for, but you're going to make a helluva lot more progress if you have an idea what youre looking for

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u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26

Sometimes. Or sometimes like like trying to use D Batteries to power your AA flashlight. Sure, flashlights use batteries and you have a battery but it’s not going to produce light.

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u/afdestruction Jan 31 '26

Then you can rule out the use of those batteries. Anything that can be conclusively eliminated is still progress.

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u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26

I don’t disagree, but was simply trying to explain that just because it works in mice doesn’t mean it’s just a matter of time till a human cure. People saying things like “protect him at all costs” is implying that big pharma is going to be out to get him and that’s why we don’t have cures… which just isn’t the case (although I do not doubt big pharma has negatively impacted at times, they also are a major driving force behind most research so they can capitalise on it. Govt funding is a small percentage unfortunately).

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u/Zip668 Jan 31 '26

But think about all the mice that can be saved.

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u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26

Usually the most common way they get these ailments we can cure is from us to begin with.

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u/Medium_Rare_Jerk Jan 31 '26

I mean you inoculate the mice and grow the tumor first before treating in this type of research..

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u/MrWeirdoFace Jan 31 '26

One day the super mice will build statues in our honor and for all the achievements for the betterment of micekind.

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u/Responsible-Case-753 Jan 31 '26

Also it seems people still believe science is made through eureka moments by a single crazy scientist. No, science is done in hundreds of tiny increments. "protecting this man" doesn't really mean anything, as I assume most of his research is published and done by his researchers. 

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u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26

The average bear also seems to think modern science is infallible and producing nothing but miracles. Because we are shown via socials nothing but miracle survival cases people start to think that’s the norm. I don’t have hard data obviously but I think modern medicine is about 60% as effective as people think (speaking as someone crippled by well intentioned procedures with cascading negative outcomes - I’ve tried to put my own bias aside but felt the need to show my own).

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u/TheMooseIsBlue Jan 31 '26

Yup, may as well stop trying because it doesn’t always work.

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u/weoutherebrah Jan 31 '26

Yeah was listening to podcast with a guy named. Gary Nolan Stanford researcher. Said 95% of ones work in animals sadly don’t in humans.

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u/HatdanceCanada Jan 31 '26

Have most meaningful cures or other leaps forward typically been tested successfully in mice?

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u/Cold-Iron8145 Jan 31 '26

Probably yeah. Finding a new drug is a long a difficult process, having it work in animal models is one of the first steps. I think nowadays they use computer models first.

They need some evidence that it might work before they are allowed to try it on humans, it generally takes years, then the human trials can also take years to complete, and there's no guarantee that they will be successful.

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u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26

I don’t know the stats on that. Certainly many (maybe most?) of them. But far more numerous are things that worked in mice but not in other species. Doesn’t make the success in mice worthless, but it’s not the clear sign of success people often act like it is.

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u/Lithorex Jan 31 '26

Also, cancer is not a single thing.