Could this be the Begining of the End of Cancer?

[olevetonahill]

Wouldnt that be Great.

http://news.yahoo.com/amazing-therapy-wipes-leukemia-study-205354211.html

[NormanPride]

I find it very interesting that the article doesn't mention how the cells were altered. They used a harmless version of HIV.

[jk the sooner fan]

Lord hear our prayers.....

[SicEmBaylor]

I find it very interesting that the article doesn't mention how the cells were altered. They used a harmless version of HIV.

Well, now that is interesting. Cancer has taken a lot of good ones over the years.

[jk the sooner fan]

They used a harmless version of HIV.

Magic Johnson's?

[NormanPride]

Another article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/


In the Penn experiment, the researchers removed certain types of white blood cells that the body uses to fight disease from the patients. Using a modified, harmless version of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, they inserted a series of genes into the white blood cells. These were designed to make to cells target and kill the cancer cells. After growing a large batch of the genetically engineered white blood cells, the doctors injected them back into the patients.
Also...

So why has this remarkable treatment been tried so far on only three patients?

Both the National Cancer Institute and several pharmaceutical companies declined to pay for the research. Neither applicants nor funders discuss the reasons an application is turned down. But good guesses are the general shortage of funds and the concept tried in this experiment was too novel and, thus, too risky for consideration.

The researchers did manage to get a grant from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, a charity founded by Barbara and Edward Netter after their daughter-in-law died of cancer. The money was enough to finance the trials on the first three patients.

[sappstuf]

Wheww... I'm a Leo.. That was close.

[olevetonahill]

Another article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/


Also...

I can see the greedy pharmaceutical companies Not wanting to lose any profits.:mad:

[Taxman71]

Asking pharmaceutical companies to fund this research is like asking a rancher to donate to a vegan rally.

[OUMallen]

Or like asking someone to bet lots of money on a miracle occurring.

ALSO, this is super news, too:
New Drug Could Cure Almost Any Viral Infection


The drug, called DRACO (for double-stranded RNA activated caspase oligomerizers), has already been tested on 15 viruses, MIT news reported. All of which, including the common cold, polio, H1N1, and a stomach virus, have been successfully killed by the treatment.

A serious threat is posed by viral pathogens, including clinical viruses (HIV, hepatitis viruses, etc.), natural emerging viruses (avian and swine influenza strains, SARS, etc.), and viruses relevant to potential bioterrorism (Ebola, smallpox, etc.).
Unfortunately, there are relatively few prophylactics or therapeutics for these viruses...To overcome these shortcomings of existing approaches, we have developed and demonstrated a novel antiviral approach that is effective against a very broad spectrum of viruses, nontoxic in vitro and in vivo, and potentially suitable for either prophylactic or therapeutic administration.
Our approach...is designed to selectively and rapidly kill virus-infected cells while not harming uninfected cells.

[picasso]

I can see the greedy pharmaceutical companies Not wanting to lose any profits.:mad:

It's not just them. There's a lot of money to be made in cancer treatment.

[OklahomaTuba]

Please work!!

But will the downgrader-in-chief's death panels allow it if your over 60?

They could just "take a pill".

[OklahomaTuba]

This also seems very anti-green to me as well. Just think of the environmental impact on Gaia Mother Earth with all those cancer survivors around??? I guess theres always abortion to fall back on...

[hawaii 5-0]

I pray cancer is cured in my lifetime.


5-0


Trump/ Curie 2012

[GKeeper316]

It's not just them. There's a lot of money to be made in cancer treatment.

i asked a doctor who's sister i was dating once upon a time why cancer was still around...

treating cancer is profitable. curing cancer is not.

[pphilfran]

Let me get this straight...

Some of you think a dead cancer patient is worth more to a pharmaceutical company than a survivor that will develop more needs as they age?

[NormanPride]

Exactly. And you know any pharma company that could claim they cured cancer would. It would be gold for them.

"Pfizer brand ibuprofen. Because we ****ing cured cancer."
"Pfizer brand bandaids. Because we ****ing cured cancer."
etc...

[MR2-Sooner86]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/dsw182/iambellend.jpg

[soonercruiser]

And.......using the patient's own RBCs!
No controversy here.
Just real "Hope"!

[cccasooner2]

I hope this is the beginning of a cure.


Man, what is going to happen to this board once FB starts? I thought I already had responded to this.

[OhU1]

Pharma companies and MDs do not need cancer to stay in business. I think we can toss that conspiracy theory.

I'm glad we have hard working scientists working on these puzzles. Medical breakthroughs and practical applications take years.

[picasso]

i asked a doctor who's sister i was dating once upon a time why cancer was still around...

treating cancer is profitable. curing cancer is not.

Back in '04 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Got it before it spread. Had said wobbler removed, 15 radiation treatments and dozens of blood work/CT Scans later the cost was somewhere around $15,000.

I had it easy compared to the folks at my oncologist who were near death. It was tough to see.

[GKeeper316]

Back in '04 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Got it before it spread. Had said wobbler removed, 15 radiation treatments and dozens of blood work/CT Scans later the cost was somewhere around $15,000.

I had it easy compared to the folks at my oncologist who were near death. It was tough to see.

testicular cancer doesn't get enough awareness. i guess save the balls isn't as much fun as save the boobies...

and i think people are vastly underestimating the potential elimination of an entire branch of medicine. it costs a lot of money to treat cancer. a lot. hell an mri will cost about a grand a pop, and you'll need lots of them for some types of cancers. stack on top of that chemo drugs and radiation treatments, stays in the hospital for 24 hour monitoring by a medical staff, etc.

[FirstandGoal]

Back in '04 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Got it before it spread. Had said wobbler removed, 15 radiation treatments and dozens of blood work/CT Scans later the cost was somewhere around $15,000.

I had it easy compared to the folks at my oncologist who were near death. It was tough to see.

I have no idea exactly what my treatment cost the insurance company, but in 2009 and 2010 I hit my 10K stop-loss early both times.

There's no way the medical industry trumps the insurance industry. I'm sure that if there were a pill that would have eliminated tens of thousands of dollars for my surgeries, chemo and radiation the insurance company would have been all over that in a heartbeat.
Maybe one day I'll get to experience the joy of not feeling buried alive with medical bills and hopefully some of you guys will also be spared that in the future.

[Ike]

Another article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/


Also...
So why has this remarkable treatment been tried so far on only three patients?

Both the National Cancer Institute and several pharmaceutical companies declined to pay for the research. Neither applicants nor funders discuss the reasons an application is turned down. But good guesses are the general shortage of funds and the concept tried in this experiment was too novel and, thus, too risky for consideration.

The researchers did manage to get a grant from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, a charity founded by Barbara and Edward Netter after their daughter-in-law died of cancer. The money was enough to finance the trials on the first three patients.

You bolded the wrong parts...;)

Good for these researchers. I hope that this opens a new swath of research that leads to a cure. While it would be nice to get my hopes up on 3 patients, it's likely that there will be some problem with this years down the road (I hope there's not), simply because hardly anything is ever perfect the first time. However, between this and the canadian study reported on earlier this year, I'm hopeful that researchers have a number of new avenues to explore to try to eliminate this disease. It would be nice if one or more of those new methods leads to a cure.

[OUHOMER]

I really hope this pans out. Seems like if this work, they could come up with a vaccine.

[olevetonahill]

Years ago NO one ever thot they would beat Polio But Salk did it, If ya never had to take those yearly shots Ya just dont know what Ya missed out on . Hell i was a little tyke when the Sugar cube vaccine came out. I wanted to Kiss Doctor Salk.

[NormanPride]

In 50 years the medical scene will look completely different, I reckon.

[Pricetag]

I hope that after these guys cure cancer, they get busy working on the cure for stupid.

[pphilfran]

Years ago NO one ever thot they would beat Polio But Salk did it, If ya never had to take those yearly shots Ya just dont know what Ya missed out on . Hell i was a little tyke when the Sugar cube vaccine came out. I wanted to Kiss Doctor Salk.

It was tasty...

I liked the plastic dome they taped over my small pox vac....