This kind of reminds me of coley's toxins treatment a little, although a bit different. Really hoping this is successful and can be available in the near term.
Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
141–150 of 188 posts
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#142Reminded me of this post on reddit[0] about injecting an ethanol gel into tumors (so it has nothing to do with modifying the immune system as in this tactic, just happens to have a similar means of application).
[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/6xsokg/duke_uni...
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Drug companies don't pick up treatments that are in the public domain. No patent, no pay.
This is just not true. Drug companies will make slight modifications to existing drugs and can get new patents on the new formulations and for new indications. If it works, a drug company can make money off of it even if it's been off-patent for years. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenalidomide vs thalidomide for an example. For every therapeutic target there are many chemical/biological solutions that can work.…
How can you say this is not true then give all example that require a patent? Yes you can mine drugs that are out of patent and find new uses for it that can be patented. Do you know of one new drug that has come to market in recent years without patent protection?
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
This cancer is being evolutionarily selected for proliferation and resistance to regulation. It is being constantly engineered to destroy. See also epithelial to mesenchymal (ETM) transition, in which cells lose their anchors and become an entirely different kind of cell so that it can better infiltrate other parts of the body. It's pernicious and highly specialized because that's why it survives. And that's why ever…
Are you saying that cancers that are particularly good at their job are more likely to be passed on to the next generation in other people? By what mechanism does a cancer or a cancer mutation spread to the next person? EDIT: OK I've done some reading about cancer and evolution. Clearly there is an evolutionary process happening inside each person's body that "selects" for cancers that are good at their "job". Howeve…
There's at least a couple mechanisms. The most obvious is heredity—certain alleles of a particular gene that normally controls growth, or expresses some surface protein, mutate, leaving descendants with a greater risk of cancer. BRCA4, for example, has some variations that all but guarantee breast cancer. Mutation can happen in both somatic (body) cells and in germ-line cells; when it happens in the latter, the mutation can be passed on to offspring.
Oncoviruses are another transmission vector. HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a virus that causes warts (of all kinds) in humans, and also causes several kinds of cancer, including cervical and esophageal cancers.
A third way would be a pretty rare thing in humans, but is thought to be behind some of the canine cancers you mentioned: direct transplantation of cells. The tasmanian devil is on the edge of extinction thanks to a facial cancer they get from each other through this mechanism.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#145Hmmmm, wonder if they could inject the two drugs into a portion of the biopsy sample and re-implant that, assuming the biopsy cells are still viable at the time?
Hmmm, not sure keeping the biopsy cells viable until biopsy results arrive though would be practical.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#146As someone very far removed from the medical field, immunotherapy has always seemed to me to be the most logical programme of cancer treatment. The animal immune system has evolved over hundreds of millions of years to target and destroy pathogens. Why use an indiscriminate chemical treatment to destroy cancer when our body already has a self defense system that operates with pinpoint accuracy, unparalleled target re…
> has a self defense system that operates with pinpoint accuracy, unparalleled target recognition capabilities
This isn't always true. You body can start attacking itself if cells start misidentifying one another. This can lead to Lupis, MS, Ruhtomotide Arthritis and various other auto-immune diseases.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#147Writing 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…
Echoing the other sentiments here for you and your wife—this is the club nobody wants to join, but we all want to give you a big hug. Its a shitty, scary fight, but some of the therapies coming out now are truly amazing in their potential. My own wife was diagnosed with an immune-mediated cancer a few years ago, and I went pretty deep into the research when that happened. 10 years ago, her diagnosis (melanoma IIIa) had a pretty discouraging prognosis based purely on stats. Today, they're going to have to rewrite a lot of textbooks around those stats.
Hang in there, and don't forget to take care of yourself too. Being in the role of caregiver is fucking exhausting at times. If you're like me, it falls to us to be the shield against well-meaning but poorly informed acquaintances shilling this herbal remedy or that metabolic supplement or this fantastic ketogenic diet backed by the research of some doctor nobody's heard of because Big Pharma... Just nod and smile and say you'll look into that and give them the middle finger in your minds eye. Try and find some support system, whether its a caregivers group or friends who have been through it, or even friends who haven't that you can still vent to. There's a lot coming at you, and more to come. Its ok to take some time for yourself some too.
Best wishes, man—I'll be thinking about your family.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Squeeze her hand for a stranger. Every person who has lost someone to cancer, and everyone who has survived it, and all of the people who watched that fight- all of us have her back and stand with her. She's fighting one of the hardest battles put to a person, and she has our respect and awe. I saw my friend at his weakest, and also when he was stronger than anyone I've ever known. It's been years but still, I'm cryi…
Thanks so much for this heartfelt comment. The personification of cancer as an enemy didn't really click with me until my family was directly threatened by it. Reading through the drugs in her chemo cocktail, I come across bevacizumab. A little bit of googling and: A cancer needs a good blood supply to provide itself with food and oxygen and to remove waste products. When it has reached 1 to 2mm across, a tumour need…
> This thing isn't just some dumb pathogen floating around that just DoSes your body. It's digging tunnels and cutting phone lines. It has strategy.
The cancers that haven't mutated to emit VEGF don't survive to grow and kill you.
It's natural selection, not intelligence.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#149Writing 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…
Squeeze her hand for a stranger. Every person who has lost someone to cancer, and everyone who has survived it, and all of the people who watched that fight- all of us have her back and stand with her. She's fighting one of the hardest battles put to a person, and she has our respect and awe. I saw my friend at his weakest, and also when he was stronger than anyone I've ever known. It's been years but still, I'm cryi…
- Squeeze her hand for a stranger -
I'm crying, my Mom passed away almost 3 years ago, but that sentence got me. Godspeed to the Scientists and best of luck OP's wife.
Re: Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumors in mice
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
This cancer is being evolutionarily selected for proliferation and resistance to regulation. It is being constantly engineered to destroy. See also epithelial to mesenchymal (ETM) transition, in which cells lose their anchors and become an entirely different kind of cell so that it can better infiltrate other parts of the body. It's pernicious and highly specialized because that's why it survives. And that's why ever…
Are you saying that cancers that are particularly good at their job are more likely to be passed on to the next generation in other people? By what mechanism does a cancer or a cancer mutation spread to the next person? EDIT: OK I've done some reading about cancer and evolution. Clearly there is an evolutionary process happening inside each person's body that "selects" for cancers that are good at their "job". Howeve…
There are a few diseases that started as cancer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_facial_tumour_disease
Generally, infectious cancer is a result from a population that either regularly has open wound contact, and or is very closely related genetically.
Given enough time cancer can even start to survive on it's own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa It's actually become somewhat difficult to avoid cross contaminating samples with this cell line.