Again, they are using virus's that we think of as bad, as a way to attack the cancer. The herpes attaches itself to the melanoma and the human immune system kills them both off. Preliminary is that its a total cure for 25% of people, and stops melanoma from spreading in 85%. Once tweaked, they believe those percentages are going to change drastically. Keep in mind that this testing was done on people who were in late stages and were going to die from this cancer.
Exciting stuff going on!!
Huntsman researchers have discovered a way to inject a mutated cold and herpes virus directly into the skin lesions caused by melanoma, stopping the cancer in its tracks.
Dr. Robert Andtbacka, one of Huntsman's leading oncologists, said the revolutionary new treatment actually teaches the body to heal itself.
"The altered cold and herpes virus activates the immune system to fight melanoma, not only where the cells are injected, but also at distant sites," Andtabacka said. "So it educates the patient's immune system to kill any melanoma cells that may be elsewhere in the body."
Another amazing aspect of the new treatment is that it is also free of the often devastating side effects caused by chemotherapy.
We miss you Tracie but your Spirit will always shine brightly on the Watch
Didn't I hear something similar recently about researchers using polio to attack cancerous cells? I'll have to double-check that but, yes, the tactic is the same--using disease A to kill disease B.
iirc the polio virus homes in on and kills cells for the most common and worst forms of brain cancer. But they have to compromise the immune system so that the polio would have the opportunity to kill the cancer before the immune system killed the virus.
The danger of course is that if you compromise the immune system then something else could kill besides the cancer.
We miss you Tracie but your Spirit will always shine brightly on the Watch
Was gonna start a new thread...but this relates to gene therapy, though not using viruses...
A protein that sends your own immune system into hyperdrive, attacks cancers [perhaps ALL kinds], also apparently at least some viruses.
It seems too good to be true, but the end of the article says the real study was in "Science," which is a serious journal, one of the big ones with a big rep, for big peeps with big brains...
made the discovery while screening mice with genetic mutations. They found one type produced ten times the number of cancer-fighting T cells, suppressing infections and becoming resistant to cancer.
Researchers found that the mice with enhanced immunity produced high levels of the unknown protein which is also found in humans.
They are hoping to produce a gene therapy whereby T cells of cancer patients could be enhanced with the protein and then injected back into the body
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler] the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass. "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler] the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass. "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
Very interesting!
From the link provided by Vraith: "[...]are now working purposefully towards being able to conduct tests on humans.
'The earliest possible test scenario is in four years time. The biggest questions are whether it’ll work in the human body, and if the human body can tolerate the doses needed without developing side effects. But we’re optimistic because the protein appears to only attach itself to a carbohydrate that is only found in the placenta and in cancer tumors in humans,' Ali Salanti concludes."
