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Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

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Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#71

Post by yzydserd »

jtms wrote: post #48
yzydserd wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know it’s a male?

Do you feel a question like this improves literally anything other than your own sense of moral superiority?

Yes. I simply hope the commenter reflects and doesn’t use a gender next time if there is no evidence of gender. That’s simply it. In 2025 I don’t feel it is appropriate for a commenter to use the pronoun “him” when there is no evidence of gender, and there isn’t at the time of comment.

I called someone out recently for the same, incurring -4 karma, and it turned out the gender pronoun was wrong: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42514127#42520946

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#72

Post by droideqa »

I am not a doctor at all, but I found these via Google scholar.

1. Ruta graveolens extract[0][1]

2. Terpenes[2]

3. Metformin helps temozolomide[3][4][5]

4. Tumor treating induced fields (magnetic fields like you originally said) [note: published after your paper, and your paper wasn't cited by it][6]

5. Ibrutinib[7]

---

[0]: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/jo... [1]: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/21/11789

[2]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B97803...

[3]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5762574/ [4]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10340608/ [5]: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12672-023-006... (not effective)

[6]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11524832/

[7]: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6816

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#73

Post by neom »

echelon wrote: post #37
neom wrote: post #29

That spinning hat is pretty cool. When cells breath they create a byproduct (Reactive Oxygen Species) - all cells do this, they need to keep their ROS levels in check else the cell will die, but because cancer cells have messed up mitochondria, they don't do this correctly and typically end up with way more ROS. That hat agitates the cells so they produce more ROS, but because the cancer cells are almost at capacity,…

> That hat agitates the cells so they produce more ROS, but because the cancer cells are almost at capacity, it overloads them and they die from ROS strangulation. If this is the understood mechanism and it has measurable results, why isn't this in widespread use?

Research is about a year old, even with fast track 4 years would be fast.

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#74

Post by neom »

querez wrote: post #54
internetter wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did cite a peer reviewed paper in nature to substantiate the spinny head magnets. I doubt it will save their friend, but it's not total hogwash

The paper was published in Nature *Scientific Reports*, not in Nature. Nature SR is a low-quality journal due to its very limited peer review (SR peer reviews only focus on scientific validity of a submitted paper, rather than its perceived importance, significance, or impact -- ie., they check if you followed proper scientific procedures, but won't check if what you're saying makes sense / fits with the rest of the…

At least the authors seem strong: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Santosh-Helekar, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OpcbygoAAAAJ&hl=en, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2zxSrB0AAAAJ&hl=en

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#75

Post by lastiteration »

yzydserd wrote: post #71
jtms wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you feel a question like this improves literally anything other than your own sense of moral superiority?

Yes. I simply hope the commenter reflects and doesn’t use a gender next time if there is no evidence of gender. That’s simply it. In 2025 I don’t feel it is appropriate for a commenter to use the pronoun “him” when there is no evidence of gender, and there isn’t at the time of comment. I called someone out recently for the same, incurring -4 karma, and it turned out the gender pronoun was wrong: https://news.ycombina…

Who cares about the gender pronoun, it's just a commenter online. The content is why we are reading. The author could be male, female or a bot. Not important, not relevant.

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#76

Post by rkhassen9 »

so sorry for your friend. I've wondered about the studies you linked as well as these from some previous links from HN you may or may not have already seen:

mRNA Cancer Vaccine Reprograms Immune System to Tackle Glioblastoma in 48 Hours(https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/oncology/mrna...) 406 points|birriel|8 months ago|230 comments Researchers develop treatment that can kill glioblastoma cells in brain pathway(https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-therapy-treatment-gli...) 142 points|wglb|5 months ago|19 comments Blood–brain barrier opening with ultrasound device in patients with glioblastoma(https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2...) 62 points|bookofjoe|2 years ago|31 comments Precision Oncology: Epigenetic Patterns Predict Glioblastoma Outcomes(https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/12/06/precision-oncology-...) 45 points|sciadvance|8 years ago|10 comments Doctor cancer free after novel glioblastoma self-treatment(https://nypost.com/2024/05/15/lifestyle/australian-doctor-ri...) 40 points|crhulls|8 months ago|2 comments Man lives 10 mo without recurrence after groundbreaking glioblastoma treatment(https://twitter.com/ProfRScolyerMIA/status/17700383563004236...) 31 points|jrpt|10 months ago|4 comments Study kills glioblastoma by manipulating brain's astrocytes(https://scitechdaily.com/groundbreaking-method-starves-highl...) 16 points|graderjs|2 years ago|0 comments Ask HN: Help with Glioblastoma

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#77

Post by dang »

rkhassen9 wrote: post #76

so sorry for your friend. I've wondered about the studies you linked as well as these from some previous links from HN you may or may not have already seen: mRNA Cancer Vaccine Reprograms Immune System to Tackle Glioblastoma in 48 Hours( https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/oncology/mrna... ) 406 points|birriel|8 months ago|230 comments Researchers develop treatment that can kill glioblastoma cells in brain…

Here are those links, passed through HN's threadography software:

Ask HN: Help with Glioblastoma - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41299748 - Aug 2024 (11 comments)

Researchers develop treatment that can kill glioblastoma cells in brain pathway - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41144021 - Aug 2024 (19 comments)

Doctor cancer free after novel glioblastoma self-treatment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40373382 - May 2024 (2 comments)

mRNA Cancer Vaccine Reprograms Immune System to Tackle Glioblastoma in 48 Hours - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40231515 - May 2024 (230 comments)

Man lives 10 mo without recurrence after groundbreaking glioblastoma treatment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39759022 - March 2024 (4 comments)

Blood–brain barrier opening with ultrasound device in patients with glioblastoma - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35853217 - May 2023 (31 comments)

Study kills glioblastoma by manipulating brain's astrocytes - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33076921 - Oct 2022 (0 comments)

Precision Oncology: Epigenetic Patterns Predict Glioblastoma Outcomes - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117386 - Dec 2016 (10 comments)

Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?

#79

Post by cjbgkagh »

There are immune system supporting mechanisms for particular immune system dysfunctions that tend to co-occur with cancer. A particularly interesting one is Low Dose Naltrexone which is super cheap and has practically no downsides.

If there is a case of even mild dysautonomia various meds like modafinil and amitriptyline can help along this axis.

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