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View Full Version : Seems hardly a day goes by anymore that something fascinating isn't discovered



Bill Jobe
01-20-2020, 7:03 PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51182451

Eduard Nemirovsky
01-20-2020, 7:20 PM
Very interesting.
Ed.

Bruce Page
01-20-2020, 7:27 PM
If proven effective, that will be a revolutionary treatment.

Mark Bolton
01-20-2020, 9:03 PM
The treatment arm of the medical complex will put the kibosh on anything of the sort that has traction.

Ken Fitzgerald
01-20-2020, 10:49 PM
Too often, new "discoveries" are released prior to extended clinical studies. Later, the clinical trials prove the theory not viable.

I would suggest the treatment arm of medical field would welcome the new treatment.

Mark Bolton
01-21-2020, 6:27 AM
Good point. I probably should have said the financial arm that controls the treatment arm.

roger wiegand
01-21-2020, 7:06 AM
Very much the case of an over-active press office. An interesting finding to be sure, but miles away from even testing in, much less treating patients. Unfortunately I can't tell you how often cancer has been cured in a cell culture system or in mice, with an accompanying breathless press release, only to amount to nothing in the end, either because it doesn't work, can't be delivered to the right place in the body, or has intolerable toxicity. Even when all of those things are surmounted in drug development the ability of both cancer cells and infectious organisms to develop resistance or workarounds that allow them to survive dooms the new wonder drug.

In the face of all this there has actually been tremendous progress in the treatment of various cancers in the last two decades, with an increase in real survival rates for the first time. The real breakthroughs have taken decades and billions of dollars to produce. Whenever you read of any treatment for "all cancer", be very, very skeptical. It's a very complicated, very diverse family of disseases.

Bob Grier
01-21-2020, 8:26 AM
Using the immune system to fight cancer seems to have gained traction during the past decade and has now developed cures or complete remission for some deadly cancers. It is very encouraging to me to see this progress because to me it makes sense to use a biological system, our own immune system, to fight the cancer rather than chemicals. Maybe some day chemicals won't need to be used. Crisper gene editing and DNA mapping are exciting parts of this approach. Over the past decade they have been advancing fast in sophistication and availability to researchers to explore these new approaches. Exciting times in the field.

Jim Becker
01-21-2020, 9:32 AM
Immunotherapy for cancer (and other things) is a hot bed in recent years...that article makes it seem like it's totally new. Perhaps their particular approach is, I don't know. This kind of treatment (in general) is not yet considered mainstream, but it's a very active area of study, especially for patients who haven't responded well to more traditional treatments.

Bill Dufour
01-21-2020, 10:00 AM
I remember decades ago they were going to stop cells from unzipping their DNA. This was supposed to make your body last forever as the dna never aged and caused cancer. Never heard any more about it.
Bill D.

Jim Becker
01-21-2020, 12:03 PM
I remember decades ago they were going to stop cells from unzipping their DNA. This was supposed to make your body last forever as the dna never aged and caused cancer. Never heard any more about it.
Bill D.
I think it's very likely that over time there will be methods discovered that will provide a means to delay "aging" to some extent...not "immortality", but I do believe that the science community will learn how to better support cellular processes relative to aging.