Why are some metrics using an 80% confidence interval while others use 95%?
Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
41–50 of 53 posts
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The flu vaccine reduces severity and likelihood of catching it as well (which can serve to protect vulnerable populations). Your own personal chance of death is not all that matters. This is an insane perspective, eventually leading to totalitarianism. Thinking this to the end, everyone should get forced to be vaccinated for everything, because it might save someone who might die from it. "Protect the weak and inno…
It’s a question of values. I’m happy to pay taxes because my vision for how the world should work includes people who are thriving (like me) helping those who aren’t. Same reason I’m happy to get vaccines even if they don’t help me much (though most, maybe all, are worth it even if I only care about myself).
I guess I forgot to directly respond - point I was trying to make is that I don’t find this insane.
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#43“UV1 is a therapeutic cancer vaccine used to generate an immune response against the enzyme human telomerase (hTERT). The enzyme is essential for the ability of cancer cells to proliferate. Telomerase is present in 85-90% of all cancers, across the stages of the disease.” It’s a protein epitope vaccine against a normal human protein. Not stated here, but it may also target normal stem cells needed for repair and rene…
> the immune system can’t forget a target
Doesn't catching measles reset the immune system's "memory"?
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#44This is obviously good but note that it appears to be covering mesothelioma only, and "The median [overall survival] OS was 15.4 months (95% CI, 11.1-22.6) for UV1 plus ipilimumab and nivolumab (treatment arm) versus 11.1 months (95% CI, 8.8-18.1) for ipilimumab and nivolumab alone." Another headline could be: "Cancer vaccine helps some mesothelioma patients live an extra 4.3 months," which is less exciting than the…
> Unfortunately, Moderna won't make mRNA-4157 available under compassionate use Sorry to hear. Try contacting Immunocore in Oxford, they have a TCR therapy that targets many tumors, including squamous ones, and they are recruiting or should make it available under compassionate use. Other companies worth looking into are Adaptimmune Therapeutics, also in Oxford, and Evaxion in Copenhagen. They are all going the semi-…
Talking about clinical trials, I'm wondering: does one, as a patient, have to go hunting & searching for these clinical trials yourself, or do doctors mention these when things start to look dire?
Asking for a friend that got osteosarcoma earlier this year (in her lower left leg) that has metastasized. She already had retinoblastoma as a child due to a mutation of the RB1 gene, both are probably related.
I don't want to be that friend that thinks they know better than the doctors, but I'm honestly curious.
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#45This is obviously good but note that it appears to be covering mesothelioma only, and "The median [overall survival] OS was 15.4 months (95% CI, 11.1-22.6) for UV1 plus ipilimumab and nivolumab (treatment arm) versus 11.1 months (95% CI, 8.8-18.1) for ipilimumab and nivolumab alone." Another headline could be: "Cancer vaccine helps some mesothelioma patients live an extra 4.3 months," which is less exciting than the…
I'm really sorry for what you're going through. I lost someone very close to me to cancer recently, but it was detected so very late that treatment options were severely limited (immunotherapy was off the table). Personalised cancer vaccines really seem to be the most promising avenue there is at the moment, as the problem seems to always have been that unless you can kill the tumour right to the last cell whatever i…
I'd say 'differentiated' might be a better description than 'adapt', no?
With targeted therapies (by whatever means), you're killing everything with that marker with high probability.
Unfortunately, tumors typically being heterogenous (tumor cells don't all carry the same markers), after you've killed everything marked... you're still left with everything else.
Which I believe is why most targeted therapies use simultaneous adjuvant general therapies that help with the remainder?
(Family member going through BRAF targeted therapy with some adjuvant cocktail for metastatic colon cancer)
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weren’t you able to get into the study at UCSD? How is that going? Are you allowed to talk about it?
I was! I've now been infused twice with 1100mg of petosemtamab / MCLA-158 ( https://beta.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03526835 ), on Sept. 27 and then Oct. 12. The next is Oct. 25. For the first week I had no apparent reactions, and then a rash erupted on my face, chest, and back. That's pretty normal for EGFR drugs, and the rash was (and is) itchy and annoying but not unbearable. To treat it, I inject an antibiotic c…
You're an excellent writer! Some scenes feel poignantly vivid. As in, my thinking "That is the those way those things go, both in moments of happiness and others."
Hope your late November CT brings good news.
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have an opinion on https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/new-mode-cancer-tr... ?
In my air-chair opinion, the future of cancer treatments will not be one "cure-all" drug, but many, all depending on a cancer's characteristics and an individual's response to treatments. Cancer can also mutate or become metastatic when under duress, so the characteristics change then as well. So the more treatments we can create, the better.
That's been the last 15 years of oncology, afaik.
Old: type cancer on location and characteristics, give treatment statistically effective against that combination
New: sequence cancer, feed into software, study treatment options and plan from that
It's been a huge change.
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
The flu vaccine reduces severity and likelihood of catching it as well (which can serve to protect vulnerable populations). Your own personal chance of death is not all that matters. Getting it yearly may also reduce the risk of other related conditions e.g. https://www.uth.edu/news/story/uthealth-houston-study-flu-va... It's nearly risk free and it's definitely worth it even if all it did was decrease the severity o…
> The flu vaccine reduces severity and likelihood of catching it as well (which can serve to protect vulnerable populations). Your own personal chance of death is not all that matters. This is an insane perspective, eventually leading to totalitarianism. Thinking this to the end, everyone should get forced to be vaccinated for everything, because it might save someone who might die from it. "Protect the weak and inno…
I never said anything about forcing people to get vaccinated. I was simply arguing that getting vaccinated is wise and considerate.
"Your own personal chance of death is not all that matters" is just a fact. There are outcomes other than your death that should influence your decisions.
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
The flu vaccine reduces severity and likelihood of catching it as well (which can serve to protect vulnerable populations). Your own personal chance of death is not all that matters. Getting it yearly may also reduce the risk of other related conditions e.g. https://www.uth.edu/news/story/uthealth-houston-study-flu-va... It's nearly risk free and it's definitely worth it even if all it did was decrease the severity o…
The flu shot does not prevent one from getting the flu and spreading it to others. Like the past 3 years have shown, you're just not going to get herd immunity with these short term low efficacy shots, even when paired alongside monumental, wide scale, and completely unsustainable efforts. Also, the risk of something needs to be put in context of the risk of what you're protecting against. If something only has a sev…
> The flu shot does not prevent one from getting the flu and spreading it to others
It does both of those things. Maybe read: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm
> Also, the risk of something needs to be put in context of the risk of what you're protecting against
True. And one thing we're protecting against is getting the flu. That has a probability much much higher than 1 in 2 million.
Re: Universal cancer vaccine trial shows significant improvement in overall survival
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Unfortunately, Moderna won't make mRNA-4157 available under compassionate use Sorry to hear. Try contacting Immunocore in Oxford, they have a TCR therapy that targets many tumors, including squamous ones, and they are recruiting or should make it available under compassionate use. Other companies worth looking into are Adaptimmune Therapeutics, also in Oxford, and Evaxion in Copenhagen. They are all going the semi-…
Talking about clinical trials, I'm wondering: does one, as a patient, have to go hunting & searching for these clinical trials yourself, or do doctors mention these when things start to look dire? Asking for a friend that got osteosarcoma earlier this year (in her lower left leg) that has metastasized. She already had retinoblastoma as a child due to a mutation of the RB1 gene, both are probably related. I don't want…
In my case, we did. But I know the space well, as I work in immunology.
Plus, I was frustrated because our local hospital offerings were far from the state of the art.
In case of a metastasis, even more so, as adverse events are less of a concern.