Posted on 12/10/2024 3:42:12 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Nan Zhang, Ph.D., and colleagues have discovered a new approach to treating ovarian cancer, that in preclinical laboratory testing, shrinks tumors and improves survival rates while simultaneously making tumors more receptive to chemotherapy treatment.
The danger of metastasis (when cancer spreads throughout the body) is exacerbated in ovarian cancer for two main reasons:
—-Ovarian cancer is naturally resistant to chemotherapy, so its presence anywhere is difficult to combat.
—-Ovarian cancer tends to metastasize through peritoneal fluid into the peritoneal cavity, which is the larger space in the body that houses the stomach and intestines. Cancer in the peritoneal cavity is especially dangerous because the area is naturally immunosuppressive and limits the body's response to any tumors.
To combat the challenge of ovarian cancer, Zhang and his collaborators turned to a possible solution from nearly a century ago. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, New York surgeon William B. Coley achieved a cure rate greater than 10% for some cancers by injecting patients with dead pathogens. Scientists later reasoned that this anti-cancer effect was the result of the immune system's activation of myeloid cells. Those are the plentiful cells in the peritoneal cavity that—when activated—can mount a cancer-killing response.
Building on this concept, Zhang and the team designed an approach that specifically activates myeloid cells within the peritoneal cavity through a combination of treatment with β-glucan, a pathogen-derived activator of myeloid cells, and interferon-gamma (IFNγ). Preliminary reports suggest the approach can work to reverse immunosuppression around tumors.
Their findings confirmed that this combination therapy worked when tested in preclinical lab models. After treating metastatic ovarian cancer models with both β-glucan and IFNγ, the total tumor burden shrank substantially relative to controls. This disease reversal was consistent even in chemotherapy-resistant strains of ovarian cancer, which the team also modeled.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
It would have to be used “off label,” but when your cancer has a low survival rate, that should be easy to do.
The technique seems straightforward.
The substances are β-glucan and interferon-gamma (IFNγ).
I hope this proves to be a good therapy. I lost a beloved relative to ovarian cancer.
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