90 % of terminal cancer patients in remission

[mistermack]

This news is about a week old, but I haven't seen a thread on it.

Looks incredibly promising. They treated patients whose prognosis was weeks or months to live, and got about ninety percent into full remission. Two died, but at least they were given a better chance than their current condition.

These are remission rates I've never seen before, even in less severe cases. Must be the start of something.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35586834

[mistermack]

Another news report yesterday, said that British cancer scientists are on the verge of success, making a vaccine out of the patient's own tumours, that direct the patients immune system directly at their tumours.

Sounds very promising, if that can be done.
The treatment in the OP is just for blood cancer, not tumours.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 05506.html

[Svartalf]

Funny, if that info is serious, it should be all over the place, and it isn't.

[mistermack]

Funny, if that info is serious, it should be all over the place, and it isn't.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

A fucking cure for cancer? Where are the banner headlines?

Or is the story wishful thinking? It's not very good reporting.
I would have wanted to hear their results for the process in animals.

Or are they going straight to humans?

[Svartalf]

No idea... I think it's wishful thinking, or a method that is yet not properly tested, and years, or decades from human testing.

[Tero]

Sound promising. Most of these Cancer Cured! headlines turn out to be cell lines or lab animals, years away from a clinical study.

[mistermack]

No idea... I think it's wishful thinking, or a method that is yet not properly tested, and years, or decades from human testing.

Well, not in this case. If you believe the Independent, they are giving the treatment to humans right now, so if it works noticeably, they should see a difference in months, not years.
Although for non-anecdotal, and more statistical evidence you would have to wait longer.
From reading it a bit harder, it appears that the vaccine approach isn't new.
It's the overall combination of trying a vaccine and low-dose chemotherapy which is original to this study.

I think.

[Svartalf]

Vaccination against your own cells seems to be a very dangerous approach to curing cancer... unless they manage to find a signal that's very specific to cancerous cells, it seems a very good way to inflict a bevy of autoimmune diseases on the patient.

[mistermack]

Vaccination against your own cells seems to be a very dangerous approach to curing cancer... unless they manage to find a signal that's very specific to cancerous cells, it seems a very good way to inflict a bevy of autoimmune diseases on the patient.

Yes and no.
The vaccine has been designed to use part of the tumour cell which allows it to constantly reproduce, in the typical cancer manner. So it shouldn't provoke a response to non-cancerous cells.
But the low dose chemotherapy is designed to "take the brakes off" the immune system, so the chance of immune-system disorders would be raised, you would think.

Medical researchers have designed the vaccine to encourage the immune system to react against a part of the cancer cell that allows it to continuously replicate without ever dying.


At the same time, the patients on the trial will be prescribed a chemotherapy drug that should, at low doses, “lift the brakes” on the immune system so that it is no longer prevented from attacking the body’s own cancer cells, scientists said.