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Killing Cancer With Engineered Viruses
techfun89 writes "Viruses can make us all sick, but one day could be engineered to defeat cancer. Cancer cells have one trait that may leave them open to attack. They aren't good at killing off viral infections, hence, at least in theory, you could use a virus to kill cancer cells without affecting the patient. Dr. Ian Mohr, a virologist at New York University, altered the herpes virus so that it isn't attacked by the immune system and kills cancer cells more efficiently. Another virus that is proving effective for liver cancer is Vaccinia. Vaccinia is used to protect against smallpox and so far the results have been promising. Several groups of patients have had an increase in survival times. Meanwhile other viruses are being used for things like melanoma, bladder cancer, and head and neck cancer."
So, patient, we cured your cancer but now you have herpes. Feel better?
yea what could possibly go wrong?
If they set that virus free, it will be the end of all of us! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
http://xkcd.com/938/
Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/health/research/viruses-are-recruited-and-flipped-as-cancer-killers.html?_r=2&ref=science
Sounds interesting (especially as somebody who is at high risk for melanoma).
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
http://xkcd.com/938/
i thought HIV was the cure for cancer.
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Sounds interesting (especially as somebody who is at high risk for melanoma).
Let me guess: You're from New Jersey?
I think it's a good thing: -
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/health/13gene.html?pagewanted=all
boneitis? I have this guy I'm supposed to wake up from cyrogenic once that's cured.
Sounds nice but once it mutates into something harmful what are you going to do?
Dr. Bell at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, http://www.ohri.ca/profiles/bell.asp. He's been researching and using viruses to treat cancer in liver cancer. I believe it is currently in clinical trials in Europe and showing promise to not just kill cancer cells but cut off blood flow to the tumour which also helps to 'starve it'.
Didn't Will Smith teach us not to mess with that? Zombie/Vampire things are going to eat us all!!!!(10+1)
So we can make a virus that's strong enough to kill cancer cells, but not strong enough to kill healthy cells? That's pretty cool.
(especially as somebody who is at high risk for melanoma).
Have you considered eating less melons? I hear that helps.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Though the sample size is much smaller, the success rate is much higher. The theory here is different though: the HIV virus infects only T-Cells. T-Cells are responsible for "marking" bodily intrusions as harmful -- but rather than the traditional AIDs payload of "don't attack anything" going into them you alter the HIV virus's DNA to train the T-Cells to kill cancers. So in essence, it teaches your body how to treat cancer as an infection.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/health/13gene.html?pagewanted=all
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
...there's still tons of work to do.
I've got a friend with brain cancer who was enrolled in one of the current virus trials - one which has shown great promise in animal studies. He ended up leaving the trial after a month or so, with tumor regrowth and tremendous swelling around the tumor site, causing all sorts of problems with speech, reading, and sight. He has surgery scheduled for tomorrow, after that, hopefully another trial.
Not to be a downbuzz, but it's a long road before this kind of therapy is anything more than an experimental crapshoot.
The problem with using living solutions to medical problems (as opposed to drugs) is the high rate of mutation. Perhaps you engineered the virus to kill the cancer cells, but 2 months and 40k generations later it could be doing something completely different.
TFA makes it seem like the concept of pitting viruses against bacteria was developed in the '50s, but research has been ongoing for much longer, at least from 1896.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage
My sig is wonderful. I love my sig.
-- but rather than the traditional AIDs payload of "don't attack anything" going into them you alter the HIV virus's DNA to train the T-Cells to kill cancers
You also artificially assemble the engineered virus from components and don't include the code that says "make lots more of me".
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
We also saw movies where nuclear tests created giant women with inadequate blood circulation to the brain, inch tall men, ants the size of SUVs, ...
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
At least Will Smith will be immune. We'll all be dead or vampire-like creatures, but at least Will Smith will carry on the torch of humanity. I can now sleep at night.
"Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
Didn't we learn anything from the "I am Legend" film.
Altered herpes, "that it isn't attacked by the immune system"
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
"Viruses can make us all sick, but one day could be engineered to defeat cancer."
OOhohoh! Can it be a Wednesday!?!?
It prevents abut 30% of cancer death.
It has no bad side effects.
It also prevents heart disease and lung disease.
It's called tobacco prevention.
No treatment ever delivered can touch it for safety, effectiveness, and cost effectiveness.
We are not using it. Much. Way less than we could.
Instead, powerful forces are pushing the other way:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-tobacco-global-deaths-idUSBRE82K0C020120321?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=401
Don't get too excited about tech fix. What matters in cancer may have little to do with it.
Nice to know. ;-(
Unfortunately it is too late
I'm at a high risk for both lemonoma and dyslexia.
Looks like cancer has gotten wise to the plan: http://www.kurzweilai.net/cancer-cells-send-out-the-alarm-on-tumor-killing-virus
Ask me about my sig!
...giant women with inadequate blood circulation to the brain, inch tall men, ants the size of SUVs...
?
O wait I got the movie and the country mixed up again
unless you are a Big Pharma who wants to make $ out of the treatment. The reovirus and about 10 other viruses already attack cancer cells in this way. There have been clinical trails, somewhere in Canada, I believe. If you catch reovirus naturally, you will perhaps feel under the weather for a week or so. On the other hand, the clinical trials that inject reovirus into the tumor have a high rate of complete remission of the cancer. So rethink the usefulness of the FDA : it makes it impossible for 'natural' treatments to be used in medicine by making the cost of taking a substance through the FDA's regulations in the neighborhood of $500M. Without the ability to patent the treatment, no drug company will do that. Next, rethink the entire medical cartel. Every oncologist knows about dozens of these treatments. None can use them without jeopardizing their license to practice medicine. The FDA kills 100s of 1000s of people in the US yearly because it prevents the development of new drugs and the use of 'natural substances' in treatments. We don't die of unsafe drugs (tho the FDA has been pretty bad at that lately), we die of no new drugs at all. Regulations == programming for an open environment == a conceptual oxymoron.
It may be too late, but you could tell your friend about vitamin D, iodine, and vegetables, fruits, and beans, as well as fasting, in preventing and sometimes curing cancer. I've posted many links on that stuff here in the past. Just google on those term and cancer, and look up Dr. Joel Fuhrman's work and Dr. John Cannell's work. Unfortunately, the best way to deal with cancer is to prevent it by helping the human immune system deal with individual cancer cells before they proliferate. Once you have cancer, things are pretty iffy. Fasting can also help in reducing nausea from chemotherapy. Good luck to your friend. Assuming the surgery is a success, exploring these things may help prevent a recurrence. Some links to start:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx
http://iodine4health.com/disease/cancer/cancer.htm
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080331/fasting_may_improve_cancer_chemotherapy
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-cancer/
Unfortunately, instead of scientists studying what is proven to work (nutrition, fasting, and lifestyle) and then people lobbying to make good support for healthy choices readily available to all, scientists seem to be creating what could become the basis of a weaponized plague that evades the human immune system. :-(
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
This was discovered by a doctor, William Coley in the 19th century, and used effectively by him to treat a number of cancers. It has been called Coley fluid or Coley Toxins.
Okay, I gotta ask what I always ask with these kinds of stories. If I get liver cancer (or whatever). how long do I have to hold out before the local hospital can offer a tailored virus to cure me?
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altered the herpes virus so that it isn't attacked by the immune system ...what could possibly go wrong?
Altering viruses to get past human immune systems is the kind of thing that needs to be held to very strict oversight and safety standards, yet it's happening today in labs with minimal containment and no oversight at all. Hell of a lot scarier than terrorism.
Isn't this how "I am Legend" started?
They do not watch 27 days later, do they?
Which day will they engineer to kill cancer? I'll be pissed if it's the day before I get cancer!
Hope a cure for cancer is found soon!
MB Madrid blog
Genelux....VACV effectively treats cancer and no harm to healthy cells. Trials underway in London. Shown safety in Phase 1. Best in class of all virus technologies. FDA drags feet. USA regulatory environment and incestuous Pharma/Gov/Wall Street is hostile to small companies with great technologies. It would be better if we stopped consuming so much sugar and junk to help prevent cancer in the first place. Then we would not have to rely on bloated, corrupt and useless institutions to come to our rescue.
February/March 2006
Coley's Toxins: A Cancer Treatment History
by Wayne Martin, BS, ChE
WE WORK FOR SEVERAL YEARS WITH WAYNE MARTIN FAX: (334) 928 0150. HE CAME TO GUATEMALA, GUATEMALA C.A. TO SEE HOW WE WHERE WORKING (1997).
I (JOSE FRANCISCO MONJES ANGELES M.D.) WOULD PARTICIPATE AS AN INVESTIGATOR OF THE CLINICAL TRIAL PHASE III-IV WITH THE IMMUNEBOOSTER COLEY’S TOXIN IMPROVED) WITH A TEAM OF INVESTIGATORS FROM GUATEMALA (WE ALREADY HAVE OUR TEAM) AND OTHER COUNTRIES9WE ARE LOOKING FOR). THE WAY TO PROPOSE IT IS PRESENTING A PROTOCOL THE REASON WHY I AM ASKING IS BECAUSE IT HAS TO HAVE AN EFFICIENCY OF MORE THAN 95%. BIOETHICS LAW WOULD BE FROM THE COUNTRY THAT OUR COMPANY WILL BE CREATED. WE HAVE TO HAVE THE ADEQUATE INSTALATIONS.
LET ME DO A SUMMARY OF WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING HERE IN GUATEMALA:
SEVERAL YEARS AGO ROLANDO COMPARINI M.D./INTERNAL MEDICINE (DECEASED-94) STARTED A PROGRAM OF TREATING CANCER PATIENTS WITH COLEY’S VACCINE IN 1992 IN GUATEMALA, GUATEMALA. IN 1994 I WAS CONTACTED BY A PHYSICIAN WHEN I WAS WORKING IN HOSPITAL SAN FRANCISCO. I ONLY TREATED THE SIDE EFFECT’S OF THE PATIENTS TREATED WITH COLEY’S VACCINE, AND A GROUP OF PHYSICIANS WORKED WITH ME (I WAS THE COORDINATOR OF THE GROUP OF PHYSICIANS). I LEFT THE PROGRAM AFTER WORKING FOR ABOUT 1 YEAR. BOB CARPENTER (WHO I MET WITH ROLANDO COMPARINI M.D.) CONTACTED ME AGAIN AND WE STARTED AGAIN ACCEPTING CANCER PATIENTS ON DIC.-95 WITH COLEY’S VACCINE AND I MADE A PROTOCOL TO TREAT THEM. I USED SOME OF THE INFORMATION FROM THE ARTICLE “THE CANCER INDUSTRY” BY RALPH MOSS, ROLANDO COMPARINI M.D./INTERNIST (DECEASED-94) ADDED SOME MEDICATIONS TO STOP SOME OF THE SIDE EFFECTS THAT ARE NOT GOOD FOR THE PATIENT, NEITHER AGAINST THE TOXINS. I HAVE WORKED WITH WAYNE MARTIN FAX: (334) 928 0150 TREATING PATIENTS WITH COLEY’S VACCINE THAT HAVE CANCER, I HAVE TREATED (40 PATIENTS) AT THE HOSPITAL OF ESPECIALIDADES MIXCO, GUATEMALA
In 1985 I went to Guatemala and found a bacteriologist and gave him $200.00 to make 1,000 cc of Coley’s Toxins. Then I found a doctor with a small hospital. He agreed AND THE BOARD OF THE HOSPITAL to put American cancer patients in his hospital and to treat them with injections in the vein of Coley’s Toxins. They could stay in his hospital for 20 days and get 20 IV injections of Coley’s Toxins. The cost to the patient was $9,000.00.
NOTE: WAYNE MARTIN PAID SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS TO GUSTAVO PINTO ATTORNEY AT LAW FROM GUATEMALA AND NEVER REGISTRATED THE VACCINE. HE TOLD BOB CARPENTER AND I (JOSE FRANCISCO MONJES ANGELES MD.) THAT HAD A APPROVE FROM THE OPIC BANK IN WASHINGTON. THE WAY TO WORK WITH HIM IS TO PAY HIM SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE FORM. THAT WE WILL PAY ALL HIS EXPENSES TO TRAVEL THE THREE OF US TO MIAMI TO FILL THE FORM AND THEN TRAVEL TO WASHINGTON TO CLOSE THE DEAL JOSE FRANCISCO MONJES ANGELES M.D. WENT TO THE USA EMBASSY AND SPOKE TO RAUL VILLAGRAN ABOUT IT. THAT DAY THAT I WENT WAS 2 PERSONS FROM THE OPIC HERE IN GUATEMALA CITY AND IT WAS TOO LATE TO MEET ONE OF THEM. HE ASK ME WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE ATTORNEY AT LAW (GUSTAVO PINTO) SO I TOLD HIM WHO WAS HIM.
THEY HIRE ME AS A CONSULTANT. SO WENT TO FLINT MICHIGAN AND THEY GOT ME AN APPOINTMENT WITH GENE POHREN. WE NEVER CLOSE THE DEAL BECAUSE WE COULD NOT FIN A USA CITIZEN THAT HAVE TO PUT 20% OF THE WHOLE PROJECT. DURING I WENT (JOSE FRANCISCO MONJES ANGELS M.D.) AND MET WITH A PHYSICIAN DR. VILLAVICIENZO THAT WORKED FOR SEGEPLAN AND HE FIND WHERE TO GET THE FUNDS FOR OUR PROJECT. BUT THE ONLY CONDITION WAS TO HAVE A LETTER FROM THE MINISTER OF HEALTH ING. MARCO TULIO SOSA/DURING THE GOVERNMENT OF ALVARO ARZU. AND IN 15 DAYS MAXIMUM AFTER THE MEETING WE WILL GET THE FUNDS FOR OUR PROJECT. I HAD A MEETING WITH LIC. TITO RIVERA/ADVISOR OF THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND I (JOSE FRANCISCO MONJES ANGELES M.D.) PRESENTED A PROJECT THAT INCLUDE A MEDICAL FACILITY TO TREAT CANCER PATIENTS (MADE BY JOSE FRANCISCO MONJES ANGELES AND M.