87 out of 90 mice cured after the first treatment... very impressive. Hope this works as well for humans.
Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
51–60 of 188 posts
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#52Forgive me if this sounds ignorant, but would it not be considered a 'treatment' instead of a 'vaccine' if this is a treatment to the pre-existing condition?
It's both. It's a treatment, not a prophylaxis, and it stimulates the immune system to attack the target, and so is a vaccine.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#53I've passively followed this field as a layman observer for the past several years. I'd be interested in getting a lot more information on this work.
Generally I view these press releases with a skeptical eye, as the researchers have a need to "talk up" their work in order to keep the funding coming in.
On the other hand, Irving Weissman and the labs at Stanford are well respected and not known for spurious claims - often though, the problem with these therapies isn't so much potency as it is persistence, with recurrences being relatively common longer term (and many therapies simply don't translate from mice to humans well).
I'd be interested in having someone with in-depth knowledge of this field explain how the OX40 receptor work here differs from the CD47 work also being carried out at Stanford (besides being a different target protein), and existing CAR T therapies being tested elsewhere - although certainly this seems very encouraging in any case.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I know we aren’t able to cure cancer in mice. Sure we can cure them of artificial cancers we give them in the lab, but actually curing spontaneous mouse cancer in outbred mouse populations (i.e. something like human cancer) is not something I have ever seen anyone try, let alone succeed.
Wouldn't that just mean we don't know whether it works or not?
Yes, but I was responding to the OP that claimed we know how to cure cancer in mice, when we have never tried. I suspect that we are actually a lot better at curing real cancer in people than in mice.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#55Writing this from a squeaky recliner set beside my wife’s bed in the oncology department of a local research hospital.
Three weeks ago she had a radical hysterectomy and partial lymphadenectomy to treat stage IIIc ovarian cancer, and we’re back to try to aid her in her recovery to prepare for chemotherapy. Chemo should start next week, but we are hoping to also participate in a clinical trial for atezolizumab. This is a drug that essentially blocks the cancer cell’s immunosuppressive mechanism (expression of PD-L1) and allows the body’s natural immune response to do work on the disease.
Suddenly inspired to learn more of the nitty gritty around how cancer and the associated therapies work, I’m shocked at how sophisticated the battle is. At least in this case, the unregulated reproduction of cells is just the beginning, and my lay mind can’t grasp how simple mutation is responsible for it. If someone told me cancer was sentient with a will to thrive, I’m now much less inclined to laugh them off.
Therapies that arm our own immune syatem in the fight against this monster really seem like the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#56Writing this from a squeaky recliner set beside my wife’s bed in the oncology department of a local research hospital. Three weeks ago she had a radical hysterectomy and partial lymphadenectomy to treat stage IIIc ovarian cancer, and we’re back to try to aid her in her recovery to prepare for chemotherapy. Chemo should start next week, but we are hoping to also participate in a clinical trial for atezolizumab. This i…
I had the same reaction after hearing about the warburg effect. Basically the synergy of all the bugs that are necessary and maintained by cancerous tissue for it to avoid dying, it's eerie.
I hope your morale is as high as possible, faith and energy are useful to help your loved ones heal in order to endure side effects of treatments. Also it seems immunotherapies are often well supported by patients across the board, so hopefully it will be easier to fight.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#57This seems to be the actual paper: http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/10/426/eaan4488 I hope this translates well to humans and other mammals.
I see that authors are from Stanford University. Can someone from the US clarify if this will be in public domain/knowledge, or is it possible some drug company will patent this later on?
Conflating public domain with public knowledge risks a meaningful error. To patent something requires that you make it publicly knowable, but this knowledge would not be usable by other companies.
well... you can write a patent that is so obfuscated that the public cannot learn from it...
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#58Writing this from a squeaky recliner set beside my wife’s bed in the oncology department of a local research hospital. Three weeks ago she had a radical hysterectomy and partial lymphadenectomy to treat stage IIIc ovarian cancer, and we’re back to try to aid her in her recovery to prepare for chemotherapy. Chemo should start next week, but we are hoping to also participate in a clinical trial for atezolizumab. This i…
For some reason I wanted to study what cancer and therapies are all about. I reached the same conclusion as yours. The thing is incredibly complex and thus fascinating. After 20 years in IT, I'm seriously considering moving back to university to work on that. All the best for your wife.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#59I'm happy when solutions for cancer are found. A little less when the way is genetic engineering. From my ignorance I imagine the genetics like a big complex self programming software and the genetic engineering a way to change little variables in a wide enviroment. In other words: Butterlfy effect, you're welcome.
If applied to an individual person, how does this present any risks of ecological damage? Alternately, does this concentrate control of the food supply into the hands of people who might decide to starve some population out of greed/apathy/prejudice?
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see that authors are from Stanford University. Can someone from the US clarify if this will be in public domain/knowledge, or is it possible some drug company will patent this later on?
Conflating public domain with public knowledge risks a meaningful error. To patent something requires that you make it publicly knowable , but this knowledge would not be usable by other companies. well... you can write a patent that is so obfuscated that the public cannot learn from it...
>> well... you can write a patent that is so obfuscated that the public cannot learn from it...
In such case the patent office should reject your patent claim as patent laws usually require that the description of the invention being patented should be understandable to professionals of relevant domain, who should be able to replicate it based solely on that description.