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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?

#211

Post by hnfong »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #197
mllev wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess hope can be false now.

> guess hope can be false now "Hope is false if it is based on ignorance of the correct assessment of the probability that a desire is fulfilled or on ignorance with regard to the desirability of the object of desire. Hope is justified—realistic—when the hoping person knows and accepts experts’ judgement about the probability of hope fulfillment. However, I argued, what matters for evaluating a person’s hope is not o…

Hope is premised on the basis that nobody knows the future 100%.

Experts can give a mostly-frequentist analysis based on past medical cases.

The unknown part is whether those cases apply to yours.

And nobody knows.

All the so-called probability is meaningless. It matters not whether your chances of remission is "99%" or "1%". Those numbers are meaningless in a specific case under a specific situation.

I understand this is not the commonly understood notion of probability, but the common notion is simply wrong.

I'm not saying experts are wrong, I'm happy to assume that their analyses are quite correct when applied to a population. I'm just saying the common way of interpreting their statistics onto one specific case (the one you care about) is wrong, because you can't just plug the probability onto a single person/case and round it off to zero or one.

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

#212

Post by adamredwoods »

WithinReason wrote: post #200
DriftRegion wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Remember than when the AIDS epidemic broke out. The doctors and labs didn’t help much. People took things in their own hands and tried stuff, and in the end, they found things that worked. What? how did people take things into their own hands?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Buyers_Club

>> Remember than when the AIDS epidemic broke out. The doctors and labs didn’t help much. People took things in their own hands and tried stuff, and in the end, they found things that worked.

What??? It was the FDA that blocked access, not doctors and labs. It was the doctors and labs that were trying to find treatments. Peptide T and AZT had several studies going on.

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

#213

Post by mllev »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #197
mllev wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess hope can be false now.

> guess hope can be false now "Hope is false if it is based on ignorance of the correct assessment of the probability that a desire is fulfilled or on ignorance with regard to the desirability of the object of desire. Hope is justified—realistic—when the hoping person knows and accepts experts’ judgement about the probability of hope fulfillment. However, I argued, what matters for evaluating a person’s hope is not o…

I agree that the probability of a desired outcome is valuable information. But to call being unaware of this information “false hope” is a blight on our language. Hope is hope. It’s quite proven that believing a certain outcome is likely increases the likelihood of that outcome.

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

#214

Post by anonzzzies »

thomasfromcdnjs wrote: post #99
alecst wrote: post #10

I'm really sorry to hear that. Since you're asking for moonshots and weird things to try, here's something they can ask their doctor about: > Case reports involving glioblastoma patients using water-only fasting regimens in conjunction with other forms of cancer treatment have reported favorable outcomes with respect to tumor growth https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2874558/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl…

I'm one of those stubborn types that will refuse all medical treatments, lots of fasting is my current go to strategy if some tumor gets out of control.

steve jobs and many others tried things like that. if it makes you feel good then sure, but that alone will kill you faster when a tumor(s) gets out of control.

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

#215

Post by adamredwoods »

d--b wrote: post #189
ugh123 wrote: post #174

How does one even obtain zika virus to try that? Although yet, the "case report" talks about only 1 patient

Zika virus is in the wild and in virus banks. Since no virus banks will hand you out a live virus strain, your best shot is to fly to the rain forest, and get bitten by mosquitoes. At worst, it gives you an excuse for one last trip to Thailand… you may contract dengue fever and chikungunya though, which is not exactly pleasant. The case is not a patient, the woman caught the virus cause she lives in Brazil.

They're using weakened viruses. Virus use in cancer is nothing new, but an interesting field. I can see why pharma hesitates using it, viruses can mutate, too, similar to cancer.

https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10...

https://source.washu.edu/2021/03/zika-virus-helps-destroy-de...

But plant viruses, like cowpea mosaic, now that's a virus humans don't need to fear:

https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/plant-virus-based-immunoth...

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

#216

Post by mahkeiro »

aCameronhuff wrote: post #152

Here’s a summary of all of the current treatments and near future treatments for GBM/glioma: https://docs.google.com/file/d/1kTa3eamaL91Smjh9r_0CYv5OYFX4... . This is as complete a list as you’ll find, written in plain English, with citations for every part of it. Slightly out of date but there hasn’t been much that’s new and different since last year. Vorasidenib was approved recently in USA and it’s the most effect…

I read about this guy last year, using melanoma approach (he is a melanoma specialist) for his GBM: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/03/brainstorm-ric... Of course n=1, but I find it interesting when there is this cross field way of thinking.

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

#217

Post by adamredwoods »

cjbillington wrote: post #82
yread wrote: post #63

become an professor and try some immunotherapy like prof. Long and prof. Scolyer? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-69006713

As of his latest scan in November, 18 months post surgery, Scolyer's cancer hasn't recurred [1]. Average time to recurrence post-surgery is 6 months. Don't want to leap to conclusions prematurely, but that might be some progress. [1] https://x.com/ProfRAScolyer/status/1859179205885673877

He tried an experimental payload that contained two ADCs, one BRAF inhibitor and something else, maybe PD-1 inhibitor. Then he had surgery. Payload-heavy ADCs are the way forward against difficult cancers.

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

#218

Post by Pakrozee »

adamredwoods wrote: post #217
cjbillington wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of his latest scan in November, 18 months post surgery, Scolyer's cancer hasn't recurred [1]. Average time to recurrence post-surgery is 6 months. Don't want to leap to conclusions prematurely, but that might be some progress. [1] https://x.com/ProfRAScolyer/status/1859179205885673877

He tried an experimental payload that contained two ADCs, one BRAF inhibitor and something else, maybe PD-1 inhibitor. Then he had surgery. Payload-heavy ADCs are the way forward against difficult cancers.

They're using weakened viruses. Virus use in cancer is nothing new, but an interesting field. I can see why pharma hesitates using it, viruses can mutate, too, similar to cancer. https://pakrozee.pk/

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

#219

Post by Pakrozee »

adamredwoods wrote: post #146
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Find a clinical trial you can get them into.

Make sure to read Jake Seliger's blog. He really details the process on clinical trials. Rest in peace. https://jakeseliger.com/

Thank you for the recommendation. Jake Seliger's insights on clinical trials have been incredibly helpful for many. His contributions will certainly continue to guide and inspire others. May he rest in peace. https://pakrozee.pk/

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

#220

Post by Pakrozee »

adamredwoods wrote: post #208
zmgsabst wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diet impacts survival rate, in conjunction with treatment. Please stop spreading misinformation. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8749320/

This paper you linked didn't solve anything. Please read it, and stop spreading misinformation: >> However, patients may not tolerate such a CR diet for prolonged time. Therefore, as alternative, it has been proposed an intermittent fasting regimen, whose beneficial effects also appear promising though somehow controversial in preclinical settings. This will require further elucidation in controlled clinical trials.…

It seems there's some misunderstanding here. The paper doesn't claim to have solved the issue but highlights areas requiring further research, particularly controlled clinical trials to confirm the effects. Intermittent fasting is indeed a complex and debated topic, as preclinical findings often don't translate directly into clinical practice.

I appreciate that you've spoken to oncologists and cancer nutritionists—real-world expertise is invaluable in discussions like this. Could you share any insights or perspectives they provided? It could help clarify and enrich the conversation for everyone.https://pakrozee.pk/

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