Immune Discovery 'May Treat All Cancer'

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Tue Jan 21, 2020, 02:53 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: BBC News

A newly-discovered part of our immune system could be harnessed to treat all cancers, say scientists. The Cardiff University team discovered a method of killing prostate, breast, lung and other cancers in lab tests.

The findings, published in Nature Immunology, have not been tested in patients, but the researchers say they have "enormous potential". Experts said that although the work was still at an early stage, it was very exciting.

What have they found? Our immune system is our body's natural defence against infection, but it also attacks cancerous cells. The scientists were looking for "unconventional" and previously undiscovered ways the immune system naturally attacks tumours. What they found was a T-cell inside people's blood. This is an immune cell that can scan the body to assess whether there is a threat that needs to be eliminated.

The difference is this one could attack a wide range of cancers. "There's a chance here to treat every patient," researcher Prof Andrew Sewell told the BBC. He added: "Previously nobody believed this could be possible. - More...


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51182451

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So how would it work in practice? The idea is that a blood sample would be taken from a cancer patient. Their T-cells would be extracted and then genetically modified so they were reprogrammed to make the cancer-finding receptor...Read what MDs say and more at the link.

READ****What do the experts say?*******READ:

Lucia Mori and Gennaro De Libero, from University of Basel in Switzerland, said the research had "great potential" but was at too early a stage to say it would work in all cancers.

"We are very excited about the immunological functions of this new T-cell population and the potential use of their TCRs in tumour cell therapy," they said.

Daniel Davis, a professor of immunology at the University of Manchester, said: "At the moment, this is very basic research and not close to actual medicines for patients.

"There is no question that it's a very exciting discovery, both for advancing our basic knowledge about the immune system and for the possibility of future new medicines."



The new technique could kill a wide range of cancer cells, including breast and prostate.




T-cells fight cancer cells.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Damn, I hope this is true.

My wife is undergoing chemo treatments right now. It's scary as hell to go thru this. Any break-throughs are wonderful to hear about.

[Dan]

2. Sounds good, but tell me

How will the Corporate Medical industry make money off of this - because unless they can continue to profit off our medical issues, it ain’t gonna happen.

[LonePirate]

5. The price of modifying the T cells will be as high as several rounds of chemo combined.

They will simply charge a high enough rate for the T cell modifications to cover what is normally spent on monthsyears worth of chemo. I would not be surprised if the T cell modifications start at seven figures.

[demosincebirth]

21. Probably here in the U.S., only

[Vdizzle]

17. Behold a pale horse.

Not so good book.

[samnsara]

30. ..it will work im sure..once the therapy is developed it will be TONS$$$

...each bag my hubby gets (two bags) one at 25,000$ the other at 30,000$...every three weeks for 2-3 years.


Oh they will make it.

[Nictuku]

3. Walter Cronkite would have had this as a Major Headline

[Beakybird]

4. The movie, "I Am Legend," starts out like this.

We all know how it ends. Rabid zombies.

[NutmegYankee]

6. Is that really any different than now?

I mean sure, in the movie they didn't where red hats, but otherwise pretty close.

[Beakybird]

7. Whoa! You're right. But the red hatters are even more loathsome.

[Glimmer of Hope]

8. I need this.

[BigmanPigman]

9. How can this be fast tracked?

[appalachiablue]

10. Good point, I think they'll put a hustle on this because

of the vast need, the money and the acclaim.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

11. To the other commenters here, I advise cautious optimism.

Manipulating the immune system to target cancer cells is one of the holy grails of modern-day medical science. It's been tried before, and while every attempt brings new knowledge, we're still a long way from an effective method.

Will this new discovery someday lead to an effective, reliable method of cancer treatment that works for a broad range of patients with low risk of harmful side effects? Possibly, and any new information can only be good; I have no doubt we'll get there eventually. But even the article admits that it's still in the very early stages of research, and all we can do so far is theorize about what this newly discovered T-cell could potentially* be used for. It'll be a long time before we get to any serious applications, and that's if it doesn't turn out to be useless after all.

Keep watch and see where this leads, but please don't expect a supercure any time soon. New medical innovations take a long time to develop for as many good reasons as bad, and this one's barely getting started.

*Ask your friend with MS about some of the other things your immune system has the potential to do.

[DallasNE]

14. Well Stated And Excellent Points

A thought that occurred to me is could this lead to the creation of cancer super cells these T-cells fail to knock out. Then what. And what happens if these T-cells decide to attack non-diseased cells. What kind of damage could that cause. But for sure move this forward until it proves unfeasible.

[Aussie105]

19. Google auto-immune diseases.

It's what happens if T-cells decide to attack non-diseased cells.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. I am extremely skeptical that this could actually work out as advertized.

What can be accomplished in lab often does not carry over to humans. Same with reports about some sort of results in mice studies. Almost never do those results pertain to humans.

I strongly recommend the book The First Cell by Azra Raza. She's a physician who specializes in Myelodysplastic Syndrome, which is often a precursor to leukemia. She discusses at some length in the book the problem with the current model of medical research, isolated studies in the lab or in mice, and how almost none of that research, which might seem so promising, almost never leads to real results or a truly better medicine, let alone a cure.

She does not say we should give up hope, or abandon all research, but need to seriously re-think how the research is done.

[Desert grandma]

13. Wow!

This could be a revolutionary discovery. Interestingly enough, it was discovered by researchers at a public University in Wales the United Kingdom. You know, the country that provides health care to all its citizens. Perhaps because of that, big Pharma won't be able to hijack the procedure, assuming it becomes a real treatment.

[DFW]

15. Well, it WOULD be nice. But: WHEN?

My wife has beaten cancer twice. My dad beat it once, but not the second time. Both my parents and ALL their siblings had cancer and died from it. I lost a cousin to a glioblastoma at age 41.

With me, the question is not "if," but "when?" So if this works, yippi kayay and all that. Otherwise, it's back to chemo and broccoli and extract of apricot pits.

[pnwmom]

16. Watch Trump claim credit for this, even though the researchers are in the UK. nt

[Aussie105]

18. Killer T cells have been known about for quite a while.

They are free roaming sentinel cells in both the blood and extra-cellular fluid, and seek out those cells that are not marked with normal genetic markers (surface protein).
They will mark those foreign cells and instruct the immune system to make antibodies specific for the markers on the foreign cells.

It's a complicated topic, teaching it to senior students was difficult because the interactions are complicated, and the immune system itself is spread around different parts of the body.

What IS new is the possible genetic manipulation of the T cells to improve their detection of specific cancers. Some of them are sneaky and not recognised as foreign by the sentinel T cells.
Once they are recognised by the T cells, a whole chain of events is put into place and there is massive antibody production to attack the cancer cells.

Fingers crossed this works well, and is put into human medical treatment soon.

[wnylib]

20. I wonder what implications this might have

for multiple allergy people like myself whose immune systems are already defective. In my limited understanding, my T cells already fail to distinguish between harmful and harmless substances and call up the immune army for several foods, pollens, metals, and medicines.

[B Stieg]

22. Similar to my M.S.

At least, that was what the medicos thought 30 years ago when I had 5 exacerbations, one about every six months before they just stopped after two and a half years.
I was taught that my T-cells could not distinguish invaders, and so attacked the myelin sheath surrounding the nerve pathways in the body.
And, while many triggers from gluten to animal saliva have been blamed for the condition, no one knows what activates this syndrome in patients.
Now I'm told that the fact that I've been in remission since 1992 may be an indication of a different form of the disease, CIS, although the spread of the 5 attacks would indicate that I was headed for a full course of relapsing-remitting MS. After the second attack and recovery, my doctors were confident of a diagnosis of that form of MS, albeit with "a benign course."

Now, who knows. I still have numb spots on the bottom of each foot that make my balance a bit precarious, but there are no other symptoms and nothing seems to be worsening.

[Aussie105]

23. Interesting info!

And good to hear you are well despite that.

I think sudden onset juvenile type 1 diabetes is supposed to have the same cause, exposure to an allergen that is very similar to the markers on insulin producing pancreatic cells, or in your case, myelin sheath surface proteins.

Not an exact science, the mammalian immune system. Sometimes it gets it wrong and attacks useful cells, like the pancreas and myelin sheath.

The good news is though, that the mammalian immune system is pretty much standard issue across all mammals, ie what works in mice will also work in humans. And cats and dogs, etc. Lost a few dogs from cancer in the past,so maybe one day in the future? Humans first of course!

[wnylib]

25. I am so glad for you that it has not progressed

in the last 30 years. I have known people with MS. It would be interesting to know what made yours stop.

I was also told that the lack of T cell differentiation between self and non self is the cause of my underactive thyroid Hashimoto disorder. My immune system attacks my thyroid gland. At least that can be remedied, for the most part, by medication to replace the diminishing thyroid hormone. Plus care about what I eat since some foods can affect the medication"s effectiveness.

Amazing what havoc an immune system can cause when it does not behave well. There are a number of autoimmune disorders.

[B Stieg]

31. Thank you! I'm glad your condition was treatable, also!

But you're right. Aside from being a pot smoker for almost 50 of my 60 years, I never received any treatments other than steroids (Prednisone, Solumedrol), which several of my doctors believe may have "turned on" my Type 2 Diabetes for which I take pills (Metformin).

But my current (and new) neurologist suggested I never had MS but rather a form of Clinically Isolated Syndrome (CIS). But, according to numerous articles, I had too many exacerbations (5 in the 2 1/2 years) for CIS, so I'm still wondering exactly what happened to me back in the late 1980s and early 1990s!

[wnylib]

34. "It's a mystery" is often the only answer we can

get from docs. My thyroid condition is permanent, they say, and I have to take a thyroid pill daily for the rest of my life. Yet I have noticed some improvement when I ate certain foods snd avoided others so that the dose had to be adjusted downward. But the doc says it was just coincidence.

Having one autoimmune disorder means it is possible to develop another according to med literature I've read. So , I am supposed to be at higher risk now for type 2 diabetes and I keep track of blood sugar levels. There are people in my family with diabetes AND thyroid issues, both autoimmune disorders.

Because of having so many allergies and the thyroid problem, I've become interested in the workings of the immune system and have read up on it - in layman's terms, since I am not a biologist or medical person. It's quite complex and researchers still cannot explain why T cells go haywire in some people, and only for some substances. So whenever I see something related to T cells and the immune system, like this article on cancer, I get interested.

[W T F]

24. Unfortunately, this news came too late for a friend of mine who just passed Sunday, after a long....

Battle with breast cancer

[wnylib]

26. I am sorry about your loss. When I read this

article, I thought about all the people for whom it is too late to benefit if this does turn out to be an effective treatment. So hard to watch people we care about gradually lose their health and pass on. I have lost some relatives and friends to cancer. Wishing you comfort in your loss.

[samnsara]

28. (((hugs)))

[samnsara]

27. my hubby and fellow DUer is undergoing immune therapy for cancer right now...

...and just last visit he was asked to donate some of the cancer tissue taken from him last year and there will be some other samples taken eventually. I believe hes volunteered to be part of a test group for this very thing.

[appalachiablue]

29. How great he's doing that and all the best to you both.

[YOHABLO]

32. Love the Art work !

[SKKY]

33. I'm glad this potential breakthrough was NOT made in the US...

...because you have to know it would be suppressed, given that treating cancer is more lucrative that curing it.

[roamer65]

36. +1000000000000000000000000000

You are absolutely right.

[SKKY]

39. And how I wish I wasn't..

[Skittles]

35. would love to see a cure for cancer in my lifetime

I imagine 100 years from now people will just be amazed, how many lives cancer took for so many years.

[zanana1]

37. I would love to see a cure for cancer in my lifetime.

My nephew's four-year-old son died of leukemia. He fought it for two years. He was the sweetest little guy.

[DiverDave]

38. Wall street is

Asking "how much money can we make?"