Posted on 05/08/2006 8:35:31 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Researchers at Wake Forest University possess a remarkable strain of mice. They appear to be resistant to injections of cancer cells that kill all ordinary mice. Even better, the researchers say, the immune system cells from these mice, when injected into nonresistant mice, will cure their cancers.
The researchers, led by Dr. Zheng Cui, are reporting this finding today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
At a news conference last week, Dr. Cui and a colleague, Dr. Mark C. Willingham, speculated on the possibility of applying their findings to human patient
The researchers, led by Dr. Zheng Cui, are reporting this finding today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
At a news conference last week, Dr. Cui and a colleague, Dr. Mark C. Willingham, speculated on the possibility of applying their findings to human patient
The white blood cells are of types that confer innate immunity, meaning that they do not have to be exposed to the cancer cells first.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
PING
That is awesome.
Other articles on this, in case you aren't registered at the NYT:
http://news.google.com/?ned=us&ncl=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/09/health/09canc.html&hl=en
I think we are so close.
Wait, scratch that...
Hmmm. Hows Wake Forest University's budget doing right now?
This would be excellent news if real, and could save so many lives, but the skeptic in me senses something is not quite right. Am I alone here?
Cancer behaves like a virus. Most of the time, a persons body just eliminates it if the body is functioning properly. In a weakened area, it seems to stick and grow. Yet somehow, this study says an immune system kills them, when right now we actually have to use massive doses of radiation to do it. We literally have to nuke 'em to kill 'em!
I'd like to hear how this turns out. I hope I don't miss the results.
I've learned not to get excited over news; panaceas are one colossal let-down.
"Little-by-little" seems to be the only real progress - small steps in treating the myriad of very specific cancers... genetic profiles are the next big thing, already here in fact.
Remarkable yet coming from the New York Times. I'll wait till its confirmed in Weekly World News or some other more credible publication.
My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer last year - current prognosis good - I try to tell myself that there was some good that came out in that I learned more in a month about cancer than I had in the previous 20 years. Chemo and Radiation does not "kill" the cancer cells directly. They inhibit the cancer cells ability to replicate at a normal rate. Since all cells have a normal degradation time to die off - this slower replication cycle prevents the cancer from replicating at such a rate that it can sustain itself. This is also why the faster growing cells such as hair and red blood cells are impacted more directly. The trouble is that even with the chemo and radiation it is difficult to ensure that that "one more" cell didn't somehow survive long enough to create a new colony. The hard part for the body and why it can't respond as it would to a virus of course is that it is merely mutated cells and not foreign. (This by the way is a great argument against evolution).
anyhow my two cents
Then I'll be cancer free..
Of course, I'll have to put up with some lab assistant sticking a thermometer up my A$$ every 24 hours for the rest of my short, miserable life, which could be cut short by "investigative surgery" at any moment..
I guess you gotta give some to get some..
I think I'll take my chances on the cancer, thanks..
My wife had breast cancer 20 years ago. No problems since. If you catch it early, your chances are very good these days.
But my wifes case shows that it's not just a thing to worry about in your 40's, it can happen MUCH younger.
Women should learn how to check themselves (Although it's often the Husband that finds a lump), and go for mammograms regularly.
More info in the LA Times article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-cancer9may09,0,4476073.story?coll=la-story-footer
"Cui and his colleagues stumbled on the immune mice by accident in 1999. They were injecting mice with a highly virulent form of cancer cells as part of an ongoing study of the biological mechanisms that cause cancer to spread.
On April 13 of that year, a graduate student told Cui that one of the mice she had injected did not develop a tumor. Assuming the student had simply overlooked the mouse, he told her to do it again. And again.
After a total of five injections — the last equal to 10% of the animal's body weight — the mouse remained free of tumors.
Intrigued, they bred the mouse and found that about half its offspring had the same resistance. The trait bred true through subsequent generations and the team eventually had a colony of about 700 resistant mice. Cross-breeding the mice with other strains transferred the resistance to them as well."
According to this:
National Cancer Institute - NCI's Role in the Development of Endostatin
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/developments/NCI-and-endostatin0999
endostatins are not a failure at all, but are still being investigated.
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