For as long as we've known about it, humans have searched for a cure for cancer. Across the world, countless amounts of time and money have been spent on researching a way to stop this terrible disease. But now, it seems like the answer could have been inside our own bodies the whole time

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)in the U.S., a government agency that's responsible for health care, approved a new form of gene therapy that could mean the end of a certain type of cancer.

The therapy allows scientists to "train" the immune cells of sick patients to fight leukemia—a form of blood cancer that mostly affects young people.

The exciting new treatment works by removing healthy immune cells from the patient, known as T-cells, which are then changed to be able to "hunt down" cancer cells

The cells are then put back into the patient before they begin to get rid of the patient's leukemia over time, similar to how the body fights off other illnesses

"This is truly an exciting new day for cancer patients," Louis J. DeGennaro, president of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, said in a news release.

Up until now, a long and painful marrow transplant was the only option for many leukemia patients.

In this procedure, healthy blood cells are taken from a donor and placed into the sick patient, who also has to go through chemotherapy(化疗)to allow their body to adjust to the new cells.

But with a recovery rate of around 83%—according to a news release published by the FDA—it's hoped that the days of painful trips to the hospital, or even death, are over for leukemia sufferers.

"We're entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient's own cells to attack a deadly cancer," FDA representative Scott Gottlieb said in the release. "New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold the potential to transform medicine and our ability to treat and even cure many incurable illnesses."

Nowadays. millions of people misuse and even overuse pain medications and other drugs. Research by the American National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, 1999) shows that around 2% of the population over age 12 were using drugs non-medically.

NIDA views medications as a powerful force for good in the contemporary world. They reduce and remove pain for millions of people suffering from illness and disease. They make it possible for doctors to perform complicated surgery to save lives. Many people afflicted by serious medical conditions are able to control their symptoms and become active, contributing citizens. NIDA points out that most individuals who take these drags use them in a responsible.

Nevertheless, overuse of drugs such as opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants and stimulants does lead to harmful reliance in some people and is therefore becoming a serious public health concern. Although this abuse affects many people worldwide, particular trends of concern to the medical profession in the US appear among older adults, teenagers arid women.

Though it may be a surprise to many, the misuse of medications may be the most common form of drug abuse among the elderly. Dr Kenneth Schrader of Duke University, North Carolina states that although the elderly represent about 13% of the US population, those aged 65 and over account for the consumption of one third of all drugs. People in this age group use medications roughly three times more than the general population and have poorer compliance with instruction for use. In another study of elderly patients admitted to treatment programs, 70% were women who had overused medicines.

Unfortunately, this trend among women does not only affect those aged over. In general, among women and men who are using either an anti-anxiety drug or a sedative, women are twice as likely to become addicted. In addition, statistics compiled for 12-17 year olds show that teenage girls are more likely than teenage boys to begin overusing psychotherapeutic medication such as painkillers, tranquillizers, stimulants and sedatives.