Training an Immune System To Kill Cancer: a Universal Strategy

New submitter Guppy writes "A previous story reported widely in the media, and appearing both on Slashdot and XKCD, described a novel cancer treatment, in which a patient's own T-cells were modified using an HIV-derived vector to recognize and kill leukemia cells. In a follow-up publication (PDF), a further development is described which allows for a nearly unlimited choice of target antigens, broadening the types of malignancies potentially treatable with the technique (abstract)."

Comments

Re:Medicine often rejects real science.

[Microlith]

I like how vocal you are, but completely bereft of an actual point except being anti-nuke.

You want to know why we outlawed Coley's system and are just now rediscovering it?

Outlawed? I don't see that in anything you've cited. If you mean, rather, that it isn't FDA approved, I think you need to blame Coley himself.

Although Coley claimed successful treatment of hundreds of patients, the absence of proven benefit or reproducibility

A lack of reproducibility is FATAL to a scientific claim and any sort of study. You might as well claim you saw a unicorn in the forest.

Coley's studies were not well controlled and factors such as length of treatment and fever level were not adequately documented. Many of his patients had also received radiation and sometimes surgery.

Unless you're going to now claim the article has been surreptitiously changed by "nuke shills" to discredit him. Chances are he was on to something, but failed to appropriately document it in a way that was useful. Then, unsurprisingly, an effective solution came along and overshadowed his work.

But you didn't post this to highlight his work. You came to scream OOGA BOOGA NUKULAR.