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Some Tumors Are Responding to A New Cancer Therapy (bloomberg.com)

A new cancer therapy in an early-stage trial by the U.S. National Cancer Institute "continued to be safe and show durable responses against solid tumors for some patients," reports Bloomberg. "In a trial of 14 patients who received different doses, three patients' cancers have shrunk partially, according to a study presented Sunday... The researchers had presented initial positive data in November, and the updated study shows that the three partial responses were durable, with one cervical cancer patient's response continuing at 15 months." Kite Pharma Inc. licensed the therapy, and by the end of the year will file an "investigational new drug" application with the FDA to begin the next round of testing. The therapy involves genetically engineered T cells, targeted to the solid tumors using the MAGE-A3 protein as a unique marker expressed in up to 30 percent of cancers.

2 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Uncurable? by Megol · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nice blurb. Of course it mentions FDA aproval otherwise it would be verboten.

    Now if you or someone you know is sick with Cancer or another one of those "incurable" diseases my advice is: do not be afraid to search for a cure yourself.

    They should - many of the so-called "cures" are dangerous in many ways. Some of them directly (as injecting poisons isn't healthy) and some indirectly (reducing effects of medical treatment). Some are "harmless", assuming the patient doesn't think they should replace real, proven effective treatment with whatever snake-oil they choose. Those in the third category can even have positive effects just as any other placebo.

    The very idea of a cancer cure is idiotic as it is a wide spectrum of different kinds of cellular malfunction. That's the reason there are a lot of different drugs and treatments as something effective for one of the cancers will not be effective for another kind.

    Yes, a cure. I'm sure it's a crazy concept for many people stuck with approved science but until you have direct, personal experience with an option you can't dismiss it anymore than you can dismiss mainstream-approved chemoterapy and radiotherapy, which by the way are bigger killers than the cancer itself.

    And that's bullshit spread by ignorant fools and people wanting to make money on peoples fears and hopes. How do I know? Science, medical science.
    Yes there are people that dies of the cancer treatment, most commonly by a fragile body overdosing on painkillers. It isn't talked about much but is a reality. But how should those deaths be avoided? Many terminal cancer cases are extremely painful and not giving them large amounts of painkillers would be torture of people not (even if they'd want to) capable of ending their own lives, even with the Hippocratic ideals in mind allowing the patients to be tortured by their own decaying bodies for a few extra days of "life" in agony isn't a realistic choice.

    Mind you I'm not saying there aren't charlatans out for desperate people.There are a lot... in the medical establishment as well as outside of it. Caveat emptor.

    I can count 6 people I know of (having read their sites, articles etc.) that thought they knew a cure for cancer. They all died of the cancer they were sure to be cured. Some of them just "knew" the cure(s), some of them left a huge pile of robbed corpses.

    There are people that claim to have been cured by something, the thing in common is that they either was self-diagnosed or diagnosed by quacks.

    If someone told me or anybody else I know that I/he/she have terminal cancer I'd seek a second opinion (not expecting any better news) and then just accept palliative care trying to make my/his/her last days as comfortable as possible.

    I'll end by noting that you didn't say what any of the "cures" are.

  2. Re:Ah so its about gm tech by umafuckit · · Score: 4, Informative

    This just takes the price for least informative summary ever. So a new cancer drug has effects. Ok great, every day we see these trials and most have at least some effect. Only in the last sentence is desribed why this particular trial is worth mentioning.

    The summary says "The therapy involves genetically engineered T cells, targeted to the solid tumors using the MAGE-A3 protein as a unique marker expressed in up to 30 percent of cancers." Seems pretty informative to me.