Pawpaw may be worth looking into.
Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
51–60 of 380 posts
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#52"This gel stops brain tumors in mice. Could it offer hope for humans?"[0] [0]: https://hub.jhu.edu/2023/04/24/mouse-brain-tumors-glioblasto...
Yes, thanks I had seen that.
It's a surgery thing though, so not much I can do myself.
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#53I'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…
There was an episode from “diary of a ceo” (don’t let the title fool you) where a scientist was making similar remarks:
I wouldn’t usually post these kind of things, but since OP is asking for moonshots i’ll take a chance.
Best of luck to your friend!
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#54No, no folk remedies or bio-hacking or wearing magnets on your head will help, unfortunately.
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 scientific literature). It's a known dumping ground for papers that aren't good enough to be published in a real scientific journal, and it survives/thrives thanks to its association with the prestigious Nature journal.
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#55Personally knowing four people with GBM and not being an oncologist is exceptional and worrying. That feels like it should be raised to… someone. It is very possible something bad is happening and a commonality needs to be tracked down urgently.
It is indeed very strange, none of these people lived in the same place or got diagnosed at the same time (some 20 years ago). Most are fairly remote to me though... Like : a good friend's mom, or my wife's cousin's husband, etc.
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#56That 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?
it looks like research is way underfunded. My guess is that it is too rare, and people die quickly so clinical trials really suck.
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#57If you search on "glioblastoma" you will find a LOT of hits. I don't know anybody that has had it, but let's see if I can find the new treatment that I remember... Edit: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1610497 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08224-z This one is interesting... glioblastoma is full of killer immune cells (40% of all cells, mostly macrophages) that are "docile." https://scitechdai…
These look good, thanks much.
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#58I'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 have a relative with glioblastoma who could see his granddaughter born if he extends his life a while. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#59My mother has “frozen” breast cancer for 15 years using oral bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). To give you the short version of the story about how it works for HER: taking bloodroot causes the cancer to shrink too small to take a biopsy, but not go into remission, and when she stops taking it per the doctors advice, it gets very large and they start talking about surgery. Nobody really understands how it works and…
Thanks, worth a shot, it can't hurt
Re: Ask HN: A friend has brain cancer: any bio hacks that worked?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a powerful Ask HN though. This is deeply touching.
This is the bargaining phase of grief, where a person will seek to do whatever they can to change a fate. But when they find they can’t no matter how hard they try, they’ll just proceed to anger and then depression.
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