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Mayo Clinic Reports Dramatic Outcomes In Prostate Cancer Treatment
Zorglub writes "Two prostate cancer patients who had been told their condition was inoperable are now cancer-free as the result of an experimental therapy, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester announced Friday. 'Cancer has a propensity for turning off T cells. Dr. Allison hypothesized that if you block the off-switch, T cells will stay turned on and create a prolonged immune response. Dr. Kwon, then at NIH, demonstrated that CTLA-4 blockage could be used to treat aggressive forms of prostate cancer in mice. There was one limitation to that concept — the worry that by simply leaving all the T cells on there may not be enough response aimed at the tumor. Dr. Kwon called Dr. Allison and designed the trial together. The idea: use androgen ablation or hormone therapy to ignite an immune approach — a pilot light — and then, after a short interval of hormone therapy, introduce an anti-CTLA-4 antibody that acts like gasoline to this pilot light and overwhelms the cancer cells.' After the treatment, the patients' tumors shrunk to such a degree that they could be successfully removed."
So the immune system will actually fight cancer, but the cancer negates this by turning off the T-cells. This is fascinating. The problem, from what I understand, is that cancer cells reproduce indefinitely as their DNA does not slowly break down. It seems like this could be a real breakthrough for lots of cancer patients.
zosxavius photography
If you told me just 1 year ago that steroids could be used to cure cancer rather than cause it, I would have laughed in your face.
There are so many incidences of steroid users succumbing to cancer that it's not uncommon to see American body builders getting checked out in Mexican hospitals for various cancers. If this therapy really works, it is critical to find the balance point between androgenic steroid therapeutic use and outright abuse.
Fry: Usually on the show, they came up with a complicated plan, then explained it with a simple analogy.
Leela: Hmmm... If we can re-route engine power through the primary weapons and configure them to Melllvar's frequency, that should overload his electro-quantum structure.
Bender: Like putting too much air in a balloon!
Fry: Of course! It's all so simple!
Photos.
The Miracle Whip Clinic announced a similar breakthrough last year and they did it with much more tang.
This is great news, but I was disappointed to read that they still had to operate in the end. Recently I've read stories about how doctors are reconsidering the need of surgical treatment of prostate cancer in benign cases, due to the bad side effects involved. In particular, prostate surgery has a very high risk of causing impotence. It would be nice if this new method could replace surgery altogether, at least for less severe cases.
Look, the study also says that this has applications against lung cancer as well. This is good, because, even if you quit smoking, you don't actually reduce your chances of getting lung cancer.
This is my sig.
Note that the work was done at the NIH, but the story gives the impression that the work was done mostly at the Mayo clinic.
I am a 48 year old prostate cancer survivor who accidentally ordered a PSA test (simple blood test) which revealed that I had been carrying the slow growing cancer for 10 to 12 years. By the time of my discovery it was quite serious and I opted for surgery which I believe saved my life. While I was 'shopping' for treatments and surgeons, I found many teenagers and early adults with the disease. There has been controversy regarding the PSA test, and the medical establishment seems to not prescribe the test until patients are in their 50's (would have been dead by then). I was young once and never went to the doctor unless I could not function--but I urge you folks in your 20s and 30s to get a PSA test--cheap insurance & your life is worth a minor disruption.
Under the health care plan currently circulating Washington and mentioned on slashdot earlier, a treatment like this still wouldn't be availible to people under the proposed coverage. It only allows standardized accepted treatments. This means that off label applications wouldn't be covered and you couldn't participate in a program like this until such time it becomes a standard treatment.
It sounds like this treatment, if it remains competent, has the potential to be a cheaper treatment then surgery as well as being effective in earlier detections and perhaps other cancers as well.
Regardless of what I like or dislike about the health care plan, exceptions or provisions in any plan need to be in place so normal people can get treatments like this when they become availible- even if they are still experimental and turn out to be a hail marry pass with the hopes of doing something other then the alternative of death.
There were 54 patients and only 3 had dramatic response.
They are hoping that by adjusting the dosage that this
will improve.
http://www.minnpost.com/healthblog/2009/06/19/9659
Ipilimumab failed a prior clinical trial for prostate cancer.
http://pmid.us/17363537
and failed a prior clinical trial for skin cancer. Also its
side effects can include rashes, diarrhea and hepatitis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipilimumab
It would be great if it worked but this is more likely
one of the numerous "breakthroughs" that never
pan out.
How many men would choose between impotence and a, say, 1/1000 (no idea if that is the actual chance) of dying earlier?
You'd need to have the whole picture before you could make an educated choice.
I lost my father to prostate cancer a couple of years ago. When it got bad he wanted to die at home. We arranged that for him. I was with him during his last day. I watched him die.
I can tell you this. It's a life changing event watching someone die from cancer. Most people happily have no idea what it's like. I know though. Tumors up and down your spine, eyedroppers full of synthetic morphine to deal with the pain...it's absolutely unreal. Honestly.
Believe me, if it came down to it and someone told me today that they'd have to remove everything from my balls to my bellybutton to avoid that fate, I'd go to the table with a smile. I'd happily sit to pee if it meant I could dodge that bullet. Anyone would if they knew what I know.
Oh yeah, on an unrelated note - people who smoke are bat shit insane. They have absolutely no idea what's at the end of a losing roll of the dice.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Hey guys...get your ass checked!
Seriously. Not joking here, if you think that this shit won't kill you hard and fast you need a reality check. Get it young, you're probably going to die. Get it when you're older, probably going to live.
Om, nomnomnom...
Actually, our immune system changed a lot once we started living in cities. I don't know how good it is compared to other creatures, but it's improved a lot recently.
I am saddened if this treatment is found to be a breakthrough that it has come too late for us who have lost a loved one
Rejoice. For two reasons.
1) Other people will be spared our experience.
2) We're both genetically predisposed to prostate cancer, which means that this cure may help us someday. We might dodge the bullet. As a father myself I know I'd rather get cancer than my son. Easy decision. Maybe our Dads would feel the same way. "At least my son doesn't have to have this."
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Sung to the tune of the "MASH" Theme ...
The Game-Of-Life is Hard to Play
You're Going to Lose it Anyway
The Losing Card You'll Someday Lay
And so Here's What I Have to Say:
That Suicide is Painless
It Brings on Many Changes
Yes I Can Take or Leave it If I Chose!!!
What? Cancer and flatulence? No, I just read an interesting summary about somehow fighting cancer with gasoline and pilot lights.
I like articles I can understand:
The idea: use androgen ablation or hormone therapy to ignite an immune approach â" a pilot light â" and then, after a short interval of hormone therapy, introduce an anti-CTLA-4 antibody that acts like gasoline to this pilot light and overwhelms the cancer cells.'
So they're burning cancer with gasoline and pilot lights. I'd expect this to get more refined, like maybe they'll use lighter fluid and a zippo?
http://www.uromed.gr/ Prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis and the second most common cause of cancer-related death in men in the United States. Worldwide, prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men, with incidence and mortality rates that vary markedly among and within different countries. Since the early 1990s, new screening tests and improved treatments have been associated with dramatic shifts in the incidence, stage at diagnosis, and mortality of this disease. Major advances in molecular biology and epidemiology have provided new insights into the etiology and biology of prostate cancer. These developments promise to transform our understanding of this disease and will likely lead to new and better ways to prevent and treat prostate cancer in the foreseeable future. Worldwide Prostate cancer is the fourth most common male malignancy worldwide. Incidence and mortality rates vary tremendously among countries, similar to the variations seen among distinct ethnic groups in the United States. Incidence and mortality rates are generally higher in Western countries than in developing countries. Scandinavian countries have a particularly high rate of prostate cancer diagnosis and death compared with southern European countries. Prostate cancer mortality, for example, is twice as high in Norway as in Spain (24 per 100,000 compared with 13 per 100,000) (Landis et al, 1998; 1999). Asian countries, notably Japan and China, have some of the lowest prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world. Prostate cancer mortality in Japan between 1992 and 1995 was 4 per 100,000 (Landis et al, 1998; 1999). There are multiple complex causes for the worldwide and ethnic variations in prostate cancer incidence. The two major factors are genetics and environment. Epidemiologic studies show that men of African heritage have a high incidence of prostate cancer across the Americas. The prostate cancer incidence in Jamaica, for example, is estimated at 305 per 100,000 (Glover et al, 1998a; 1998b). Although it is possible that this increased incidence can be attributed to shared environmental risks across nations, it is more likely that Africans have a genetic predisposition to developing clinical prostate cancer. This hypothesis is also supported by a report showing that prostate cancer incidence in Nigerian men is similar to that seen in African American men (Osegbe, 1997). The putative genetic causes for this increased susceptibility to prostate cancer are described later in this chapter. Environment also plays an important role in modulating prostate cancer risk around the world. Japanese and Chinese men in the United States have a higher risk of developing and dying from prostate cancer than do their relatives in Japan and China (Muir et al, 1991; Shimizu et al, 1991). Likewise, prostate cancer incidence and mortality have increased in Japan as the country has become more Westernized (Landis et al, 1998). It is important to note, however, that Asian-American men have a lower prostate cancer incidence than white or African-American men, indicating that genetics still plays an important role in determining prostate cancer predisposition. As in the United States, prostate cancer incidence has increased in many countries since the early 1990s. Although much of this increase, as discussed later, can be correlated with the introduction of widespread PSA testing, some of the increase predates prostate cancer screening. In the southeastern Netherlands, prostate cancer incidence increased from 36 per 100,000 in 1971 to 55 per 100,000 in 1989 (Post et al, 1998; 1999). After PSA was introduced in 1990, incidence increased further to 80 per 100,000. Similar increases were reported in Denmark despite the absence of extensive prostate cancer screening. Incidence increased from 11.5 per 100,000 in 1943 to 30.9 per 100,000 (Brasso et al, 1998; Brasso & Iverson, 1999). These findings suggest that some of the worldwide increase in prostate cancer incidence reflects a true increase in the number of patients with clinical prostate cancer, rather than a simple result of increased detection. http://www.uromed.gr/