Science...

Better than prayer, unless, of course, you just want to die in ignorance:

The Vulnerable Cancer Cell: New Studies Reveal Broad, Hidden Network That Lets Tumors Thrive

ScienceDaily (May 29, 2009) — Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified many potential new drug targets for cancers long deemed “untouchable” due to the type of genetic mutation they contain. These studies are beginning to reveal new ways of attacking cancer by targeting a largely hidden network of normal genes that cancer cells rely on for survival.

KRAS, which was discovered nearly 30 years ago, is mutated in 30 percent of human tumors, including 90 percent of pancreatic cancers, 50 percent of colon cancers, and 30 percent of non-small cell lung cancers.

“Efforts to develop drugs that inhibit oncogenic RAS proteins have been largely unsuccessful, despite the fact that RAS gene family members are mutated in about 30 percent of human tumors,” said Gilliland, who directs the oncology program at Merck.

The article goes on to describe the current research and how science, after thirty-years, is finally getting a good grasp in how how to effectively attack these oncogenic networks. It may be that large swaths of previously untreatable, routinely fatal cancers will be cured by taking pill.