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Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

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Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#21

Post by reasonattlm »

astazangasta wrote: post #4

I'm calling it here, this trial will fail hard. The basic idea is this: the cancer has a number of mutations that produce novel antigens that don't exist in normal cells. If we can train T-cells to recognize these, they can attack the tumor with great specificity and kill those cells. The problem is, all the tumor has to do to evade this targeting is shed the problematic mutation, which is easily done - tumors are gr…

Which is a good reason to back things like telomere lengthening interdiction. That would work on all cancers, and cancers can't evolve around that dramatic a hurdle, so far as we know. It is a very fundamental set of machinery, and all cancers have to lengthen telomeres in order to stay ahead of the limits to replication.

Some groups are working on blocking the action of telomerase, but to make a viable treatment ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres) will have to be blocked too, since researchers have already seen telomerase-abusing cancers turn into ALT-abusing cancers.

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#22

Post by [deleted] »

astazangasta wrote: post #4

I'm calling it here, this trial will fail hard. The basic idea is this: the cancer has a number of mutations that produce novel antigens that don't exist in normal cells. If we can train T-cells to recognize these, they can attack the tumor with great specificity and kill those cells. The problem is, all the tumor has to do to evade this targeting is shed the problematic mutation, which is easily done - tumors are gr…

[deleted]

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#23

Post by reasonattlm »

refurb wrote: post #13
astazangasta wrote: post #4

I'm calling it here, this trial will fail hard. The basic idea is this: the cancer has a number of mutations that produce novel antigens that don't exist in normal cells. If we can train T-cells to recognize these, they can attack the tumor with great specificity and kill those cells. The problem is, all the tumor has to do to evade this targeting is shed the problematic mutation, which is easily done - tumors are gr…

What about the CAR-T therapy that has work pretty well against blood cancers (ALL and CLL if I remember correctly)? Seems there were a handful of remissions in patients who had failed everything else. What makes this approach so destine to fail? It's an honest question as I'm not as familiar with the details.

CAR-T is a step in the right direction for the cancer research establishment, not because it solves the problem noted by the parent comment, but because it offers the prospect of greatly reducing the cost of targeting many different types of cancer.

It is very much the luck of the draw going cancer by cancer as to whether you can pick a target that is more or less likely to be evolved around by the cancer. Leukemias were a lucky hit, but that may or may not hold up for other targets and other cancers as they are put forward.

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#24

Post by baldfat »

Having lost a sister and a son to cancer I hope for this to work. The issues are tremendous for this technique and I don't have high hopes for its use on cancer. I am still having high hopes on immune system techniques that helps the body to mark cancer cells and attack the cells for most cancers.

CRISPR big hope is that it can change the cell to stop reproducing or stop invading other cells. Simply put cancer cells are cells that grow that don't stop AND can spread to other cells. If you get one of the two you win.

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Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#25

Post by baldfat »

unimpressive wrote: post #11
astazangasta wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do cancer research at UCSF on an immunotherapy project...

I'm not one to usually complain about downvotes, but this is ridiculous. The HN hivemind at its most absurd. This person is literally working in the research sector involved, giving their opinion (it's not a nice opinion, but it is presumably informed), and getting downvoted because the HN crowd doesn't like it. EDIT: At the time I wrote this comment the parent comment and the root comment were both far into the nega…

Should be

Down votes = troll or argumentative or factually wrong

Actually

Down votes = I disagree

I have quit HN many times over that but there isn't anything that can replace HN right now.

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#27

Post by j_jochem »

baldfat wrote: post #24

Having lost a sister and a son to cancer I hope for this to work. The issues are tremendous for this technique and I don't have high hopes for its use on cancer. I am still having high hopes on immune system techniques that helps the body to mark cancer cells and attack the cells for most cancers. CRISPR big hope is that it can change the cell to stop reproducing or stop invading other cells. Simply put cancer cells…

Isn't the idea with CRISPR that you patch the patient's t-cells in such a way that they are able to recognize cancer cells as diseased cells, allowing the immune system to clear them away?

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#28

Post by etendue »

melling wrote: post #6
astazangasta wrote: post #4

I'm calling it here, this trial will fail hard. The basic idea is this: the cancer has a number of mutations that produce novel antigens that don't exist in normal cells. If we can train T-cells to recognize these, they can attack the tumor with great specificity and kill those cells. The problem is, all the tumor has to do to evade this targeting is shed the problematic mutation, which is easily done - tumors are gr…

I assume that you haven't heard that immunotherapy is the new big thing in cancer research? It's how they cured former President Carter: http://www.forbes.com/sites/arleneweintraub/2015/08/21/jimmy...

Actually, immunotherapy is the new old big thing in cancer research. As I recall it was first hot in the late 70s/early 80s after the invention of hybridomas, but failed to produce dramatic early successes.

I share the parent's skepticism. Fighting cancer is fighting basic biology population dynamics: the population that survives the assault is by definition harder to kill. It's made even harder by the very nature of cancer cells that freed from following the rules: they can relocate at will while simultaneously ignoring the body's zoning board (metastasis), steal nutrients (angiogenesis), dump waste in their backyard (poor lymphatic recruitment) and create an area that is inhospitable to other cells while simultaneously making for difficult drug delivery, ignore court orders to stop what they're doing (evade apoptosis), and replicate faster than other cells in the body (both by producing their own growth signals and ignoring anti-growth signals, including senescence). Also, the cancer cells have a head start. The deck is stacked against "curing" cancer by chemotherapeutics or immunotherapy.

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#29

Post by melling »

astazangasta wrote: post #9
melling wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume that you haven't heard that immunotherapy is the new big thing in cancer research? It's how they cured former President Carter: http://www.forbes.com/sites/arleneweintraub/2015/08/21/jimmy...

I do cancer research at UCSF on an immunotherapy project...

I'd certainly be interested in hearing what's effective and what is not. How does your project work, for example? Are you discounting most immunotherapy drugs? Is there anything we should pay particular attention to when reading the mainstream media?

Re: Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials

#30

Post by ceejayoz »

ddorian43 wrote: post #26
zymhan wrote: post #2

I hope that by the time I'm succumbing to the effects of aging, we'll have techniques with tools like CRISPR to make it easier.

And are you doing something about it (donating/investing/working/etc) ?

Chances are anyone in a developed-world democracy is investing/donating via their tax dollars.
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