Cancer cured with the good AIDS
Discussion
Well, 'harmless' HIV anyway;
Article said:
Doctors have treated only three leukemia patients, but the sensational results from a single shot could be one of the most significant advances in cancer research in decades. And it almost never happened
In the research published Wednesday, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania say the treatment made the most common type of leukemia completely disappear in two of the patients and reduced it by 70 percent in the third. In each of the patients as much as five pounds of cancerous tissue completely melted away in a few weeks, and a year later it is still gone.
The results of the preliminary test “exceeded our wildest expectations,” says immunologist Dr. Carl June a member of the Abramson Cancer Center's research team.
Dr. Edgar Engleman, a cancer immunologist at Stanford University School of Medicine who was not involved in the research calls the results “remarkable ... great stuff.”
The Penn scientists targeted chroniclymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common type of the blood disease. It strikes some 15,000 people in the United States, mostly adults, and kills 4,300 every year. Chemotherapy and radiation can hold this form of leukemia at bay for years, but until now the only cure has been a bone marrow transplant. A bone marrow transplant requires a suitable match, works only about half the time, and often brings on severe, life-threatening side effects such as pain and infection.
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.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/In the research published Wednesday, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania say the treatment made the most common type of leukemia completely disappear in two of the patients and reduced it by 70 percent in the third. In each of the patients as much as five pounds of cancerous tissue completely melted away in a few weeks, and a year later it is still gone.
The results of the preliminary test “exceeded our wildest expectations,” says immunologist Dr. Carl June a member of the Abramson Cancer Center's research team.
Dr. Edgar Engleman, a cancer immunologist at Stanford University School of Medicine who was not involved in the research calls the results “remarkable ... great stuff.”
The Penn scientists targeted chroniclymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common type of the blood disease. It strikes some 15,000 people in the United States, mostly adults, and kills 4,300 every year. Chemotherapy and radiation can hold this form of leukemia at bay for years, but until now the only cure has been a bone marrow transplant. A bone marrow transplant requires a suitable match, works only about half the time, and often brings on severe, life-threatening side effects such as pain and infection.
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.
The march of science never fails to impress me.
The person who thought of using a 'neutered' version of a frankly terrifying disease, to annihilate another equally terrifying disease/condition (whatever you would call cancer), and who was able to ensure it happened needs a medal.
Genuinely impressed with that story.
The person who thought of using a 'neutered' version of a frankly terrifying disease, to annihilate another equally terrifying disease/condition (whatever you would call cancer), and who was able to ensure it happened needs a medal.
Genuinely impressed with that story.
jbi said:
As someone who's father suffers from a form of non-hodgkins lymphoma and will need chemotherapy for the rest of his life... this is fantastic news to me.
Now I only hope this isn't a red herring and the process receives the proper investment and support it clearly needs.
My BiL who is suffering from o form of Non-Hodgkins is in the middle of chemo treatment before his stem cell transplant. Good luck to your father.Now I only hope this isn't a red herring and the process receives the proper investment and support it clearly needs.
Pints said:
I made a similar suggestion to one of my school teachers back in the late 80s/early 90s. He dismissed the idea saying it would never work.
The barsteward! I could have been more famous than Graham.
Better hope it's not your teacher who's working on this, he might collect your Nobel prize in a couple of years...The barsteward! I could have been more famous than Graham.
Oakey said:
I read that the survival rate for 'bad' HIV was 24 years from infection. Not that it matters, as this is 'harmless' HIV
I was surprised (understatement) to read year or so ago that with the right drugs HIV is a chronic non life threatening condition, much like diabetes. Huge advances.
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