amazing to me some of these treatments hundred and $150,000 a year and 40%, with possible autoimmune side effects. Since were starting to understand the importance of the micro biome and have hardly scratch the surface of its relation to the immune system, it might make sense to try some FRESH botanical cures that have been around for longer than these drug companies. I think a lot of the bad reputation herbal medicine has with 'modern' people is because so much of it has been dried and processed for easy sale. The key to building in immune system might just be having the right microbial balance which is found on certain botanicals if they are extremely fresh. It amazes me how much experimentation, financial and health health risks, people will offer but never try to get closer to nature. Is it biblical relation to nature that makes us give a series of blank cheques to the Farbers, Bayers and other shady semi false profitable profits?
4
These guys are our contemporary heroes. They spend most of their day trying to find ways to let people live longer and healthier lives. They should make the covers more often than lots of "celebrities".
8
Thanks so much to the NYTimes for publishing such an interesting series about one of the most important advances in cancer therapy and highlighting the scientists who have committed their lives to tackling these problems. Just to note for the editorial staff - the article "Harnessing the Immune System to Fight Cancer" uses only the brand-names for the checkpoint inhibitors including Opdivo and Yervoy and no generic names (nivolumab and Ipilimumab, respectively), while "Immunotherapy Offers Hope to a Cancer Patient" uses only the generic name nivolumab but no brand names. For a reader who is reading the whole series, this editorial inconsistency makes it difficult for a reader to connect the dots and recognize these are the same therapies. I recommend using both the brand and generic names for all of these novel medications so that readers can follow from one article to the next. Thanks again NYT for this important work.
8
Thank you to Ms. Grady for mentioning the role of basic experimental animal research in producing these remarkably effective new forms of cancer therapy. While probably most patients receiving immunotherapy are aware of this circumstance, the general public and lawmakers may not be. Raising this awareness is pivotal in re-directing public and private resources towards basic biomedical research in order to ascertain that progress towards new treatments for cancer and other human diseases continues in the future.
6
As a person who happens to be both a medical researcher and a life-long anti-war activist, I just want to urge people to support political candidates who use our tax dollars to save lives, not take them. Since the moment I heard of serious consideration of starting the unnecessary war in Iraq, I've been speaking out against it to little avail. Now we are in debt trillions of tax dollars for that war, millions are dead, injured & displaced, a major part of the world is destabilized, and worst terrorists are spawned. Imagine if those funds had been spent instead on cancer or Alzheimer's research.
In this election year, I urge you to vote for Pro-Life candidates, i.e., candidates who oppose starting unnecessary massive violence & support medical research.
In this election year, I urge you to vote for Pro-Life candidates, i.e., candidates who oppose starting unnecessary massive violence & support medical research.
9
This article, specific to treating types of cancer, now, with current levels and qualities of knowledge, technology, theories, a range of specialists and other needed resources, including risk-taking patients and their families, raises a challenge for thinking about, planning, implementing and assessing other multidimensional, conditions and diseases which are not so “biological,” even as they have been “medicalized” by a range of influential individual and systemic stakeholders.For example, engaging an internal immune system resource to stimulate existing T cells can also be translated into engaging a substance user’s internal and external, available and accessible, (or not), resources as s/he DOES: to get the” drug,”the equipment to use, the place to use, experiencing whatever, not getting caught and/or incarcerated, “treatment” ( often unmatched to what they can do), staying alive (ODs), minimally diseased,etc. All this takes skills, abilities ,energies; a range of resources which can be “stimulated” and “conventionalized.” And for many, also changing their lives, pro-socially, with and without treatment, notwithstanding being stigmatized, and marginalized, into a resourceless- pathologized THEM manifesting a professionally constructed, unproven, “chronic brain disease.” Targeted treatment for cancers, as a model, as a conceptual paradigm, remains as an outlier for pathologized “socio-political” diseased-conditions, and their stakeholders...who may need T calls.
2
The brilliant scientists behind these advances are just as important as their breakthrough therapies. We need to keep encouraging the best and brightest scientists to dedicate their careers to cancer research, so we can bring more advances to more patients more quickly. Without early career funding from private philanthropic organizations, which act as venture capital and recruitment firms for cancer research, many of these scientists might instead explore more lucrative careers in other fields.
Yung S. Lie, PhD, Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
Yung S. Lie, PhD, Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
4
I was surprised that your engaging article on cancer immunotherapy failed to mention rituximab.
A humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the B-cell protein CD20, rituximab is thought to work in part by recruiting immune defenses (as well as through more direct sequelae of its binding CD20). The first monoclonal antibody approved by the FDA to treat cancer (in 1997), rituximab has revolutionized treatment of the B-cell lymphomas.
I participated in the first clinical trial to combine rituximab with CHOP chemotherapy to treat aggressive lymphoma. At the time I was diagnosed, I was cachectic and had a tumor the size of a football. I believe that I am alive (and cured of lymphoma) today because of my decision to participate in that trial.
Rituximab, and various other targeted therapies used to treat lymphoma, are described in the “Monoclonal Antibodies and Other Magic Bullet Therapies” section of my book “Living with Lymphoma” (https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/living-lymphoma.
A humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the B-cell protein CD20, rituximab is thought to work in part by recruiting immune defenses (as well as through more direct sequelae of its binding CD20). The first monoclonal antibody approved by the FDA to treat cancer (in 1997), rituximab has revolutionized treatment of the B-cell lymphomas.
I participated in the first clinical trial to combine rituximab with CHOP chemotherapy to treat aggressive lymphoma. At the time I was diagnosed, I was cachectic and had a tumor the size of a football. I believe that I am alive (and cured of lymphoma) today because of my decision to participate in that trial.
Rituximab, and various other targeted therapies used to treat lymphoma, are described in the “Monoclonal Antibodies and Other Magic Bullet Therapies” section of my book “Living with Lymphoma” (https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/living-lymphoma.
4
Treatment advances are great. But I would like to see more emphasis on diagnosis; early diagnosis makes a cure more likely. In particular, ovarian cancer, which I have, is typically diagnosed late. Its symptoms (bloated abdomen, etc..) are nonspecific and there is no test for it.
10
Why would neither this article nor the immunotherapy primer mention one of the most important immunotherapy regimens developed in the past 10 years: Herceptin and Perjeta for breast cancer? Some patients, including me, have had truly dramatic results on these treatments.
5
What will we do for all the people in whom statin drugs triggered permanent and devastating diseases? Since only 1% or so of side effects are reported to the F.D.A., how can we even know how may statin victims there actually are?
Statin triggered diseases are often considered autoimmune diseases: since we've been turned into the subjects of an experiment, why not use us as the guinea pigs we are and study the diseases we've been given?
StatinVictims.com
Statin triggered diseases are often considered autoimmune diseases: since we've been turned into the subjects of an experiment, why not use us as the guinea pigs we are and study the diseases we've been given?
StatinVictims.com
1
Amazing
Vitamin D has been proven to prevent and treat many cancers by improving the immune system.
But, understandable since Vitamin D immunotherapy for cancer only cost $20 a year instead of $150,000 a year.
Follow the money.
Vitamin D has been proven to prevent and treat many cancers by improving the immune system.
But, understandable since Vitamin D immunotherapy for cancer only cost $20 a year instead of $150,000 a year.
Follow the money.
4
Might diseases caused by the body attacking itself (Type 1 diabetes; rheumatoid arthritis; Crohn's disease; etc) sometimes be the result of the immune system shifting into high gear to successfully attack a cancer .... but the body is unable to rein in the immune response resulting in a chronic disease?
3
Superb articulate report from stellar writer Denise Grady. Thank you for this article.
5
so proud to be working for BMS!
4
Beyond immune therapy for existing cancers, why not fund preventative immune research and therapy? Such as DNA testing to detect which cancers and other serious diseases we're personally at risk for. Then prescribe affordable immune therapy, such as supplements. Wouldn't prevention be much less costly and effective, on a mass scale?
3
The new immune therapy drugs have been of great benefit. The first Yerevoy (ipilimumab) stopped growth for a year in 2011, later the metastasis was removed. After a couple more of metastatic operations I had the next generation drug Pembrolizumab/Keytruda administered from August 2015. The metastasis had disappeared from the CT scans by January 2016, and still no new ones. But the great mystery remains: why has it worked wonders on me? I place may body at the disposal of researchers at the Norwegian Cancer Research hospital.
2
“The discoveries that led to the drug, Dr. Allison said, came entirely from years of basic research in immunology — experiments in test tubes and mice — and not from the clinical or 'translational' science, aimed at moving rapidly into humans, that is so heavily favored now by institutions that pay for studies."
The culprit seems what kind of research is deemed important and receives funding.
NIH presides over a 31 billion dollar budget to fund biomedical research, including fundamental research. Roughly, 16 percent are devoted to the National Cancer Institute alone. Whether this suffices may be one question important to progress. But, how the monies are directed is just as important. It may be helpful to learn how NIH sets funding priorities.
The culprit seems what kind of research is deemed important and receives funding.
NIH presides over a 31 billion dollar budget to fund biomedical research, including fundamental research. Roughly, 16 percent are devoted to the National Cancer Institute alone. Whether this suffices may be one question important to progress. But, how the monies are directed is just as important. It may be helpful to learn how NIH sets funding priorities.
6
This is wonderful news...but when we were told of a cure for Hep C, we were told that a single pill costs $1000.. will this be the same, will ordinary people be able to pay?
3
I really thank you from the bottom of my heart for this article. My aunt has ovarian cancer and she only has a few months left to live, and another uncle died last year from thyroid cancer. It's important to me that others will have the chance to receive better treatment and have the chance to survive my aunt and uncle didn't have. I would like to support this research in every way I can.
2
We are sorry to hear about your aunt's terminal prognosis with metastatic ovarian cancer.
The 100-year-old treatment described in this article -- Coley's Toxins -- was used to cure a terminal patient of metastatic ovarian cancer in the 1930s.
The patient's son, a young doctor himself, was given instructions by Dr. William Coley on how to inject his mother's tumors. Originally, she wasn't expected to live much beyond a year. But after persistent injections of Coley's Toxins, she lived another 30 years, dying of pneumonia at age 79, with no evidence of cancer.
Mrs. Gruver's case is described in detail in the academic publication by Mrs. Helen Coley Nauts (Dr. William Coley's daughter):
"A Review of the Influence of Bacterial Infection and of Bacterial Products "(Coley's Toxins)" on Malignant Tumors in Man A Critical Analysis of 30 Inoperable Cases Treated by Coley's Mixed Toxins, in Which Diagnosis Was Confirmed by Microscopic Examination
I too received Coley's Toxins for almost 3 years for my twice-recurrent, metastatic synovial sarcoma. I believe I am alive today because of it (along with other immunotherapies).
We describe Mrs. Gruver's success over ovarian cancer in our book, as part of our explanation of Coley's Toxins.
Rene Chee, PhD, and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy
The 100-year-old treatment described in this article -- Coley's Toxins -- was used to cure a terminal patient of metastatic ovarian cancer in the 1930s.
The patient's son, a young doctor himself, was given instructions by Dr. William Coley on how to inject his mother's tumors. Originally, she wasn't expected to live much beyond a year. But after persistent injections of Coley's Toxins, she lived another 30 years, dying of pneumonia at age 79, with no evidence of cancer.
Mrs. Gruver's case is described in detail in the academic publication by Mrs. Helen Coley Nauts (Dr. William Coley's daughter):
"A Review of the Influence of Bacterial Infection and of Bacterial Products "(Coley's Toxins)" on Malignant Tumors in Man A Critical Analysis of 30 Inoperable Cases Treated by Coley's Mixed Toxins, in Which Diagnosis Was Confirmed by Microscopic Examination
I too received Coley's Toxins for almost 3 years for my twice-recurrent, metastatic synovial sarcoma. I believe I am alive today because of it (along with other immunotherapies).
We describe Mrs. Gruver's success over ovarian cancer in our book, as part of our explanation of Coley's Toxins.
Rene Chee, PhD, and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy
3
Actually, what's occurring is the BIG DATA phenomenon. As their database expands and the number of experiences increases, predicting which drug or combo will become easier. Every year 250,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur. By profiling all of the relevant factors, the computer is telling doctors which approach has the greatest probability of success.
4
Big data is just new and improved calculus of probabilities and chances. And as Bernoulli said centuries ago- probabilities are used when you dont know what is going on.
2
I have a friend who is suffering from lung, liver and brain cancer, and using only traditional chemotherapy. However, with my experience in homeopathy I have been able to give he adjunctive therapy with remedies that remove the hideous side-effects of the chemo, and are also known to provide a boost to the immune system. Her recent checkup indeed confirmed that 50% of the Stage 4 cancer in the lungs has reversed, while the other forms are not yet responding. The important thing is that she is not suffering, as no one has a crystal ball to determine how long she will survive, but at least she is enjoying herself instead of vomiting and laying in bed for a week after the treatments.
5
Thank you for this interesting article. I applaud the scientific community for developing these therapies. After working in an oncology clinic for five years, working closely with patients, nurses, physicians, and other hospital staff, I decided to go back to school. I went back to school to study Chinese Medicine, in order to help cancer patients survive their standard cancer treatments with less side-effects, and in a healthier way. I now have my LAc, license to practice acupuncture, and I am starting a practice. There is a ton of research out there that proves Chinese herbs and acupuncture work to assist the body during the standard therapies. sometimes even enhancing the effects of chemo and radiation. The truly progressive oncology clinics will be the ones who embrace ancient East Asian medicine, in all of its' forms, and marry it with modern medicine, without discounting the millions of LAc, DAOM, DOM, and other professionals in this field who are as dedicated to their patients as the oncologists are.
4
The difficulty with Chinese medicine is with standardization and proof of efficacy. In our 8-year journey to survive twice-recurrent, metastatic sarcoma, two friends highly recommended a chinese medicine practitioner in Cupertino, CA, situated at the heart of silicon valley near Apple Computer.
Thinking that the independently recommendations carried weight, we thought why not? During our second visit, the physician rotated the bed on which I lay so that "my body was aligned with the sun."
He then instructed his aide to bring in two potted cactus plants. Using thin wires, the physician connected the acupuncture needles that he'd stuck all over my body to the cactii. Then, his aide instructed me to give thanks to the cactii for the healing they were about to bring to my body.
This may be an isolated example. And it doesn't necessarily detract from benefits of Chinese medicine, especially with chemoradiation side effects. But we share it to highlight the need for more standardization and clarification of the principles behind how it works.
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee MS
Authors of Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy
Thinking that the independently recommendations carried weight, we thought why not? During our second visit, the physician rotated the bed on which I lay so that "my body was aligned with the sun."
He then instructed his aide to bring in two potted cactus plants. Using thin wires, the physician connected the acupuncture needles that he'd stuck all over my body to the cactii. Then, his aide instructed me to give thanks to the cactii for the healing they were about to bring to my body.
This may be an isolated example. And it doesn't necessarily detract from benefits of Chinese medicine, especially with chemoradiation side effects. But we share it to highlight the need for more standardization and clarification of the principles behind how it works.
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee MS
Authors of Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy
2
Beth, you say there is "a ton of research" on the benefits of Chinese herbs and acupuncture. Could you suggest any references appropriate to the lay person?
1
There is an understandable rush to praise the potential of immune therapies.
However, why so little said about how to keep a healthy person's immune system as precise, active and reliable as it needs to be to fight cancer and any number of other invaders?
We have 80,000 plus industrial chemicals in the environment doing who knows what — individually or in concert with others.
The herbicide glyphosate is being ubiquitously sprayed in increasing amount on major food crops like soy and corn even though the World Health Organization last year deemed glyphosate a probable carcinogen.
High stress levels are known to suppress the immune system and as wages stagnate and full-time employment becomes less available, the stress on working families increases and for those living in poverty high stress is a constant.
It's well and good to fund research that explores every option to defeat a merciless killer like cancer.
However, we should also be examining all aspects of the American way of life to determine what might be compromising our immune systems in the first place and what adjustments we could make to improve the overall health of the immune system.
However, why so little said about how to keep a healthy person's immune system as precise, active and reliable as it needs to be to fight cancer and any number of other invaders?
We have 80,000 plus industrial chemicals in the environment doing who knows what — individually or in concert with others.
The herbicide glyphosate is being ubiquitously sprayed in increasing amount on major food crops like soy and corn even though the World Health Organization last year deemed glyphosate a probable carcinogen.
High stress levels are known to suppress the immune system and as wages stagnate and full-time employment becomes less available, the stress on working families increases and for those living in poverty high stress is a constant.
It's well and good to fund research that explores every option to defeat a merciless killer like cancer.
However, we should also be examining all aspects of the American way of life to determine what might be compromising our immune systems in the first place and what adjustments we could make to improve the overall health of the immune system.
18
This article could almost be a satire. The only patients who can afford to receive the treatment are execs for two of the world’s most polluting industries, the garment and oil industries (I know the first patient got into a trial and ended up not having to pay).
1
Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, trained at MSKCC, and now Dr. Linda Isaacs located in NYC, have been employing the natural enzyme based immunotherapy and nutrition to cancer treatment for more than 3 decades with stunning results. Huntsman Cancer Institute has been injecting the herpes virus into melanoma with equally stunning results. Experts say, we may have cancer 6-7 times in a lifetime without ever knowing it, and the reason we don't know it is because our immune system destroyed it, it is obvious that a growing cancer in the body is the result of either a sluggish or dysfunctional immune response. So awakening a sleeping immune system is a reasonable answer to cancer, as in Dr. William D. Kelley's book “One Answer to Cancer", Dr. Nicholas J. Gonzalez’s "The Trophoblast and the Origins of Cancer" and Dr. John Beard's "The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer". So why is the immune system so unresponsive to cancer in some people? A review of the written records of the above doctors will show what has been known for over 100 years, but unfortunately not profitable for the pharma industry...which is simply this: The human body's innate mechanism to destroy growing cancer 6-7 times in the average life span can easily be reactivated through enzyme and nutritional therapy. It only makes sense to research and employ the very process' by which cancer is regularly destroyed by our body’s own pancreas producing enzymes. Taking profit out of the equation, is it possible to improve on Mother Nature?
11
Living things are not defined by any particular elements but by their organization and structure. Life begins with growth and assimilation and ends with decay and dissolution. This is true of the immune system as well as others.
As the system ages and weakens, it can be strengthened by the introduction of artificial proteins--immune agents--that can bind with abnormal proteins and cancer cells. But as time passes, these agents weaken, too.
The cost of growing old is decreasing mobility, balance, vision, and hearing.
Conclusion: As Jonathan Swift said: "May you live all the days of your life."
As the system ages and weakens, it can be strengthened by the introduction of artificial proteins--immune agents--that can bind with abnormal proteins and cancer cells. But as time passes, these agents weaken, too.
The cost of growing old is decreasing mobility, balance, vision, and hearing.
Conclusion: As Jonathan Swift said: "May you live all the days of your life."
4
Questions: Quality of Life? Extending life is fine but what about quality? If you're feeling sick or nauseas or have joint pain ALL THE TIME, is it worth living an extra few years? Small Cell Lung Cancer - has immunotherapy been tested on this type of cancer?
1
In general, the quality of life from immunotherapy is far, far superior to chemo and even targeted therapies. This is precisely the reason why the FDA has rapidly approved PD-1, for example, for at least 5 different cancers within the short span of 2 years.
Case in point, in October of 2015, the FDA expanded use of PD-1 for NSCLC for patients who failed chemo. You can see the results that spurred the FDA to this action in this study:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1507643
Those on PD-1 with grade 3 or 4 (serious) side effects: 10%
Those on docetaxel (chemo) with grade 3/4 side effects: 54%
Rene Chee, PhD, and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
Case in point, in October of 2015, the FDA expanded use of PD-1 for NSCLC for patients who failed chemo. You can see the results that spurred the FDA to this action in this study:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1507643
Those on PD-1 with grade 3 or 4 (serious) side effects: 10%
Those on docetaxel (chemo) with grade 3/4 side effects: 54%
Rene Chee, PhD, and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
2
I'm deeply disappointed that Ms. Grady failed to even mention Dr. Lloyd J. Old, the eminent immunologist who supported Helen Coley Nauts's tireless collecting and documentingof her father's work and who played a major role in furthering research on Coley's toxins: A huge jump, indeed, from Dr. Coley to Dr. Allison and others who are standing on Dr. Old's shoulders. It is telling that it takes readers to pay tribute to Dr. Old, who also guided the scientific aims of the Cancer Research Institute, a funding organization focusing on immunology research, from its obscure status in the 1980s to the multi-million dollar institution it is today.
12
This is true. For decades, at a time when cancer immunologists were considered to be working on the fringes of science, Dr. Old worked tirelessly to train an army of researchers, who collectively went on to prove to doubting minds that the immune system can eliminate cancer.
Dr. Old was a man of unmatched vision, grace and foresight. The fruits of his vision and perseverance are now being enjoyed by an industry that often fails to invest in the long game. But Dr. Old will never be forgotten by those who understand the pivotal role he played in creating this new hope for the 600,000 cancer patients who die annually.
My wife, Rene, was diagnosed in 2008 with a vicious cancer. Early on, we studied the data and knew she was going to die despite conventional therapy. By chance, her professor at Stanford connected us with Dr. Old. Dr. Old came alongside us, and for almost 3 years, taught and guided us in our journey to harness the immune system against a cancer that would otherwise kill her.
As an example of his humanity, Dr. Old, in the midst of his own pain from advancing terminal prostate cancer, took the trouble to call and encourage us while we were receiving immunotherapy in Germany.
Rene is alive and tumor-free today because of his humanity. We will do everything possible to make sure he is not forgotten. We wrote of our journey in our book "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy," where we pay tribute to Dr. Old's vision, humanity and grace.
Dr. Old was a man of unmatched vision, grace and foresight. The fruits of his vision and perseverance are now being enjoyed by an industry that often fails to invest in the long game. But Dr. Old will never be forgotten by those who understand the pivotal role he played in creating this new hope for the 600,000 cancer patients who die annually.
My wife, Rene, was diagnosed in 2008 with a vicious cancer. Early on, we studied the data and knew she was going to die despite conventional therapy. By chance, her professor at Stanford connected us with Dr. Old. Dr. Old came alongside us, and for almost 3 years, taught and guided us in our journey to harness the immune system against a cancer that would otherwise kill her.
As an example of his humanity, Dr. Old, in the midst of his own pain from advancing terminal prostate cancer, took the trouble to call and encourage us while we were receiving immunotherapy in Germany.
Rene is alive and tumor-free today because of his humanity. We will do everything possible to make sure he is not forgotten. We wrote of our journey in our book "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy," where we pay tribute to Dr. Old's vision, humanity and grace.
10
Thank you Ursula for bringing Dr. Old's work into the light. His dedication to the science of Immunology was indeed his life's work and should never be forgotten.
5
It's about time the mainstream medical community embraces something other than slash and burn. I was diagnosed with DCIS (Zero stage breast cancer) and underwent a lumpectomy in May. The doctors were very aggressive about radiation, which ultimately I escaped. Now I have changed my diet to avoid reoccurrence as well as other problems related to middle age - osteoporosis and intestinal disorders. Prevention is the key. It starts with the diet and continues with exercise....
3
Please see www.breastcancerchoices.org for information on how to avoid breast (and other) cancer(s) and the benefits of iodine therapy.
Basic research into immune therapy would be a great target for socialized medicine. The government should generously fund basic as well as later stage research. In return the government must be guaranteed supply of any resultant drug at the manufacturing cost for as long as the government wants it (or, in the alternative, rights to produce the drug at government-owned facilities or at facilities hired to make the drug). The government must also be given the power to price any resultant drugs as it sees fit. Universities routinely maintain ownership of at least a portion of any intellectual property invented by staff at their facilities. So it's not like we need to re-invent the wheel.
3
If immunotherapy becomes the standard for treating cancer, then we must have Medicare for All (and improve current Medicare as it exists now). The drugs are outrageously expensive and the treatments themselves are costly. If that doesn't happen, then it will only be treatment option for the very rich!
2
More Cnidian bimedical antipathic medical research- no thanks. Its costs too much and delivers to little.. See the comments by researchers here who think anyone who isnt a researchers isnt qualified to have an opinion. MYs such discursive imperialism and "othering" they engage in- especially given the many unsolved controversies in cancer. So unless and until researchers get over themselves and their wondrous epistemic cmmunities and start fcusing more on the public good- i say no more waasted tax dllars that g into the maw of careless spendthrift researchers.
1
As I read this article after a two more cups of coffee I found it disturbing that all of the patients shown were white and middle aged. This is somewhat disturbing in that cancer strikes the poor and minorties at a greater rate than upper middle class at a greater rate than than the relatively rich and white communities.
6
Imagine what could be done if as much was spent on this type of research as weapons. Thank science! Because of quality scientific research, there is hope for better cancer treatments.
3
Not a single word here about the physical responsibility taken by us all before we are a cancer patient. Treating the immune system with the highest in respect from day on will save a lot of lives without cost.
5
I'm a veteran of immunotherapy. I was diagnosed over five years ago at age 54 with Stage IV, non-small cell lung cancer. After progressing on targeted therapies and first-line chemo, I joined a combination targeted therapy and immunotherapy trial at a major cancer center. For 16 months my disease remained stable with slight shrinkage and minimal side effects, but I then developed an immune colitis and adrenal failure, and was taken off the trial. Eighteen months later, faced with limited options, I resumed immunotherapy treatment, now FDA approved, for five months until I developed a brain metastasis, which showed a new mutation. Following brain surgery, I am now on a targeted therapy but will most likely be back on immunotherapy in the future.
3
The drug companies and hospitals are dominating the story, at $75,000 per patient. So-called ketogenic diets (no sugar, low carbs, high fat) are being employed with immunotherapy. Zinc is overlooked. Zinc is needed to activate T-cells in the thymus gland. Same for vitamin C. Instead, they remove T-cells, activate and populate them, and then charge you $75,000. Vitamin D activates neutrophils which were found to produce cancer-proof mice. Cancer therapy is on the therapists' not the patients' terms.
5
Its a shame that neither Presidential Candidate has made the War On Cancer part of their Campaign.
I hope that Hillary doesn't drop the ball.
She needs to make it a major campaign issue.
This year alone, over 1.7 Million Americans will be diagnosed with Cancer.
For every one of them, life will never be the same.
We need to declare all out War On Cancer -- and back it up with real spending.
I hope that Hillary doesn't drop the ball.
She needs to make it a major campaign issue.
This year alone, over 1.7 Million Americans will be diagnosed with Cancer.
For every one of them, life will never be the same.
We need to declare all out War On Cancer -- and back it up with real spending.
3
For 100 million Americans with chronic pain- a life ruining condition- their lives wont be the same either=- yet cancer gets several times the amount of research then pain. I love the mral and mental blindness of decisionmakers who have decided cancer is infinately mre important then the suffering from chronic pain. My how we are given to partial knowledge and partial interests.
3
I read Denise Grady's "Harnessing the Immune Sytem" with great interest, but sadness.
For less then six months ago, New Life Cancer Center's introduced a profound new tumor targted immuno-chemotherapy for treatment of advanced solid cancer tumors without surgery or any conventional side effects whatsoever.
The treatment is profound in that consists of a CT guided injection once a week for three to four weeks eliminating surgery, nausea, fatigue, hair loss, weight loss, or compromised immune system.
interestingly, the procedure uses FDA approve medcines but with a new indication. So when i read about all of these patients dying far to so, it saddens me that they never knew about this revolutianary
For less then six months ago, New Life Cancer Center's introduced a profound new tumor targted immuno-chemotherapy for treatment of advanced solid cancer tumors without surgery or any conventional side effects whatsoever.
The treatment is profound in that consists of a CT guided injection once a week for three to four weeks eliminating surgery, nausea, fatigue, hair loss, weight loss, or compromised immune system.
interestingly, the procedure uses FDA approve medcines but with a new indication. So when i read about all of these patients dying far to so, it saddens me that they never knew about this revolutianary
2
A person I know was on a trial with Yervoy and Opdivo. He had small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Due to study rules he had to wait 4 weeks after having brain metastasis treated with radiotherapy. Obviously the time to wait was too long: average untreated survival with SCLC is 10 weeks, and to have radiotherapy takes a bit of time. That rule wasn't surely in his interest, but I think not even in the interest of the company who is trying to market the drugs. I hope for the future patients they will change this nonsense rule
3
Unfortunately, clinical trials are set up to test the efficacy of the treatment being tested, and not that of prior treatments, thus the "wash out" time before starting the clinical trial. Though unfortunate your friend had a long wait in between treatments, I hope your friend is responding well.
1
Our immune system is a culmination of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Our bodies WANT to kill cancer, and usually do, most cancer is eliminated before it ever reaches a point where its effects are noticed. Potentially cancerous cells are likely killed on a daily basis.
Numerous cellular mechanisms (such as DNA checkpoints which will not allow a cell to replicate unless its DNA is uncorrupted) need to fail in order for cancer to survive, thrive, and ultimately metastasize.
Already our body wants to win the fight - but there are instances when a person has a weakened immune system, or instances where the cancer has found a way to trick the immune system and hide from it.
These drugs hold a lot of promise if they can activate and fully harness that power.
Numerous cellular mechanisms (such as DNA checkpoints which will not allow a cell to replicate unless its DNA is uncorrupted) need to fail in order for cancer to survive, thrive, and ultimately metastasize.
Already our body wants to win the fight - but there are instances when a person has a weakened immune system, or instances where the cancer has found a way to trick the immune system and hide from it.
These drugs hold a lot of promise if they can activate and fully harness that power.
4
Agreed. Within our lifetimes we may see the widespread availability of custom-made medications that have been discussed from time to time.
1
The compulsion to insure against the possibility of needing these drugs locks us into the non-negotiated prices for ordinary drugs mandated by the worse than useless Congress of the USA.
8
Don't hold your breath for Hillary to fight for negotiated prices either. BIG PHARMA owns her lock stock and barrel.
4
Sad but true. That said, we are citizens and we could put a lot of pressure on her, as Bernie did during the primaries!
1
At least Hillary is pro science, unlike global warming is a hoax Trump
2
Our family is lucky. We learned long ago that by not treating serious infections picked up on vacation with NSAIDs or other drugs, bothersome years old warts disappeared.
1
As a medical oncologist involved in trials of these new immunotherapy agents, I am excited by the potential that they represent as a step beyond classic chemotherapy. It is an honor that patients entrust us with their care and a privilege to work with many of the physicians named in this article.
While these medications will improve the lifespan of many patients, there is still much to learn, and immunotherapy currently does not help everyone. Certain diseases appear less responsive than others to these drugs, and we need to conduct much more research to render these illnesses more susceptible to immunotherapeutic approaches. We are still learning how to predict which patients are most likely to benefit from checkpoint inhibitors and other treatments, and how to best recognize and manage the side effects they cause.
As physicians, we recognize the "fierce urgency of now" that each of our patients face as they battle their disease. Indeed, we and our families are just as susceptible to cancer as everyone else. Still, we also need to recognize that we are at the dawn of this era of cancer treatment. We are only now learning to harness the full potential of immunotherapy. We will work as quickly as we can to do so. In the meanwhile, we appreciate the support of the public, and their understanding of our current abilities, as we methodically pursue the goal of helping as many patients as possible.
While these medications will improve the lifespan of many patients, there is still much to learn, and immunotherapy currently does not help everyone. Certain diseases appear less responsive than others to these drugs, and we need to conduct much more research to render these illnesses more susceptible to immunotherapeutic approaches. We are still learning how to predict which patients are most likely to benefit from checkpoint inhibitors and other treatments, and how to best recognize and manage the side effects they cause.
As physicians, we recognize the "fierce urgency of now" that each of our patients face as they battle their disease. Indeed, we and our families are just as susceptible to cancer as everyone else. Still, we also need to recognize that we are at the dawn of this era of cancer treatment. We are only now learning to harness the full potential of immunotherapy. We will work as quickly as we can to do so. In the meanwhile, we appreciate the support of the public, and their understanding of our current abilities, as we methodically pursue the goal of helping as many patients as possible.
40
You say your epistemic community recognizes the fierce urgency of now- yet you still dont know what cancer is or what causes it- and man has suffering it since the agriculturasl age. Your not using DCA, Essiac, hyperthermia, Hoxsey and the many treatments that have been used against cancer in the past. Your epistemic community is biased t a few treatments that lack sophisticated algorithms and yur process model lacks granularity. CIPN is n the rise=and since oncologists dont think pain matter-like the rest of the medical profession- too many are suffering with cancer pain. I dont believe any oncologist commented on the NPS-and i doubt most of them ever heard of it. We understand that there is a great need for your epistemic community to keep the hype cycle going- but frankly I am unaware f an sense of urgency in cancer research- maybe you can name one oncolgist who feels that sense of urgency- but frankly i doubt that you can.
2
Thank you for your service to your patients, Dr. Fogelman.
My wife, Rene, is a patient at MD Anderson, where you serve. Between 2009 and 2013, at a time when immunotherapy was still considered "highly experimental," we forsaked the conventional approach and pursued immunotherapy, convinced that it was the best chance we had of survival for my wife's twice-recurrent, metastatic synovial sarcoma.
Her scans at MDA confirm tumor shrinkage from Coley's Toxins.
We appreciate your comment that "immunotherapy currently does not help everyone." We have a slightly different perspective. As you know, the immune system is complex, with many required pieces.
For example, without existing T cells that know how to attack the cancer, PD-1 immunotherapy is thought to be ineffective. Early trials that applied PD-1 (or CTLA-4) monotherapy did not seek to optimize results by first ensuring the creation of these T cells. Methods to first create these T cells may include vaccines, cryoablation or even radiation of a single tumor to release antigen.
Beyond creating T cells and addressing checkpoints, combination trials are seeking to address other aspects of tumor protection, such as the powerful protectors of tumors, the Regulatory T cells and MDSCs.
So, perhaps the urgency isn't to find out which patients will benefit from existing approaches, but rather, to quickly validate a multi-pronged approach that will address as many of these aspects of tumor protection simultaneously.
My wife, Rene, is a patient at MD Anderson, where you serve. Between 2009 and 2013, at a time when immunotherapy was still considered "highly experimental," we forsaked the conventional approach and pursued immunotherapy, convinced that it was the best chance we had of survival for my wife's twice-recurrent, metastatic synovial sarcoma.
Her scans at MDA confirm tumor shrinkage from Coley's Toxins.
We appreciate your comment that "immunotherapy currently does not help everyone." We have a slightly different perspective. As you know, the immune system is complex, with many required pieces.
For example, without existing T cells that know how to attack the cancer, PD-1 immunotherapy is thought to be ineffective. Early trials that applied PD-1 (or CTLA-4) monotherapy did not seek to optimize results by first ensuring the creation of these T cells. Methods to first create these T cells may include vaccines, cryoablation or even radiation of a single tumor to release antigen.
Beyond creating T cells and addressing checkpoints, combination trials are seeking to address other aspects of tumor protection, such as the powerful protectors of tumors, the Regulatory T cells and MDSCs.
So, perhaps the urgency isn't to find out which patients will benefit from existing approaches, but rather, to quickly validate a multi-pronged approach that will address as many of these aspects of tumor protection simultaneously.
4
High Dose Medical Marijuana Oil Therapy (HDMMOT) is also a form of immunotherapy.
4
One of the most exciting prospects is to the use of Medical Marijuana to help reduce the side effects of checkpoint inhibitors. It would be great to get some animal studies going, for clinicians to keep track of what their patients are seeing who are combining the two, and to get some clinical trials going in that area.
10
Although this article is hopeful about the use of immunotherapy , the fact that the cost of treatment (150,000 per year for the drugs alone) precludes a large segment of cancer patients accessing these treatments. Blame the drug companies or the insurance companies but clinical trials are not accessible to all who could benefit from them. Some times I wonder why we trust the market place to provide life or death services when the ultimate decision is based on the amount of profit that can be extracted from the process.
41
And people tell me its not about the money. Drugs are a $400 billion annual business in the U.S. When some states anounced they would begiving cops narcan to treat overdoses- the price doubled, Dr Collins has been promising wonders from personalized targeted medicine since 1999- here we are with ever rising insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses and increasing prevalence f diabetes, neurpathic pain, obesirty and arthritis. So no wonder the doctros and researchers keep up the hype on how wonderful their efforts are. But the truth is there spending great amounts of money- with little to show for it.
The true death panels are based in our profit-making system, not in any law. Maybe a law that would involve not only a profit cap, but also have access as a cornerstone?
You anticipate what I wanted to say - I'd suggest seriously that journalists use the language "is priced by [name of manufacturer] at," rather than "costs."
E.g. the drug is priced at $150,000 for one course of treatment by _______.
No judgment language, but that is really more accurate.
E.g. the drug is priced at $150,000 for one course of treatment by _______.
No judgment language, but that is really more accurate.
3
Immunotherapy was part of a regimen of treatment that saved my life. In 1975 I was diagnosed (at Sloan Kettering) with Stage 4B Hodgkin's Disease. I was advised to get affairs in order.
The treatment advised by Dr. Burton Lee at Sloan was in my mind way too radical: full body radiation and a splenectomy followed my a month course of MOPP chemotherapy.
I chose to explore other options and this led me to the Lukas Klinic, in Arlesheim Switzerland where the centerpiece of their therapeutic approach was immunotherapy based on the concepts of anthroposophical medicine based on the concepts of developed by Rudolpf Steiner, w
The treatment advised by Dr. Burton Lee at Sloan was in my mind way too radical: full body radiation and a splenectomy followed my a month course of MOPP chemotherapy.
I chose to explore other options and this led me to the Lukas Klinic, in Arlesheim Switzerland where the centerpiece of their therapeutic approach was immunotherapy based on the concepts of anthroposophical medicine based on the concepts of developed by Rudolpf Steiner, w
2
I am a life long sufferer of ulcerative colitis, crohn's, and rheumatoid arthritis. I'd be happy to share my immune system with cancer patients, but I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I wonder if it means I'm immune to cancer...
5
I am not a doctor, but I doubt it. My mother suffered with crohns for over twenty years enduring numerous surgeries, only to die from pancreatic cancer.
Hope you have an easier time as medicine haas come a long way since then.
Hope you have an easier time as medicine haas come a long way since then.
1
My grandma died a few years ago after losing a brutal battle against ovarian cancer in India. Although she was given proper treatment and top-class care, she was not exposed to immunotherapy. After coming across this article, I immediately thought of her. Could she have possibly lived longer if immunotherapy was offered to patients in India 10 years ago? I will never know. The prominence of immunotherapy today provides hope for me and many others. Survival stories prove that immunotherapy can be relied on and I hope that this practice will become popular in other countries around the world.
Patients who are saved by immunotherapy in the nick of time can thank the upward inclination of technology and science. The countless amount of money and time dedicated to searching for a means to battle cancer has been paid off and our race has inched closer to becoming invincible. With this advancement, we will have the opportunity to connect with other nations and strengthen our relations by sharing the treatment through interactions between doctors from different nations. Furthermore, we will be able to build off of this discovery and possibly create a cure for all forms of cancer. Therefore, I would like to thank those who discovered the immune system, specifically T-cells, and the countless hours spent in laboratories to advance immunotherapy. Your work has paid off in many unimaginable ways.
Patients who are saved by immunotherapy in the nick of time can thank the upward inclination of technology and science. The countless amount of money and time dedicated to searching for a means to battle cancer has been paid off and our race has inched closer to becoming invincible. With this advancement, we will have the opportunity to connect with other nations and strengthen our relations by sharing the treatment through interactions between doctors from different nations. Furthermore, we will be able to build off of this discovery and possibly create a cure for all forms of cancer. Therefore, I would like to thank those who discovered the immune system, specifically T-cells, and the countless hours spent in laboratories to advance immunotherapy. Your work has paid off in many unimaginable ways.
3
Saved by immunotherapy- oh please. Correwlation is not causation. Do you believe the human bdy was idle while the persn f cancer receives immunotherapy? Its unfortunate that the dead weight f the past weighs like a nightmare on the living. Your reductionistic thinking cant explain why some people dont get better when they use immunotherapy. I guess as Bernoulli wrte- hidden causes forever mock your diligence. And as i have said elsewhere metabolism is a key to cancer that is often ignored in treatment- no wonder s many with cancer die of starvatin- because practitioners ignore vitamin d, mitochondria, zinc, vitamin a in cancer. The Cnidian reductinism behind immunotherapy is the same old anti--attern we have seen fr years in cancer research and practice.
Is chemotherapy compatible with immunotherapy?
I'm asking because I recall reading that Jimmy Carter's treatment included immunotherapy, surgery, and radiation. I don't recall any references to chemo.
I'm asking because I recall reading that Jimmy Carter's treatment included immunotherapy, surgery, and radiation. I don't recall any references to chemo.
1
Great question. Jimmy Carter's doctors most likely combined radiation with PD-1 because radiation has the effect of killing some tumor cells. Those dead tumor cells stay in the body. In addition, radiation-induced inflammation attracts immune cells to the dead tumor.
In the process of clearing away the dead tumor, the immune cells may learn to attack the tumor (generating T cells against the tumor antigens). When combined with PD-1, these T cells are most likely why Jimmy Carter is now NED, despite the typical survival of around 3-4 months for the average patient in his situation.
The late Dr. Lloyd Old, the scientist who mentored the doctors mentioned in this article, once told us that he believed chemotherapy is synergistic with immunotherapy. The common notion that chemo destroys the immune system, and is therefore incompatible may not sufficiently capture some of the benefits of chemo.
For example, like radiation, chemo may also kill some tumor, releasing tumor antigens and creating T cells against them.
Also, chemo may decrease certain types of "bad" immune cells like Tregs (regulatory T cells) and MDSCs. These "bad" immune cells are powerful protectors of tumors, which may be one major reason why immunotherapies can eventually fail.
So, yes, chemo can be an ally to immunotherapy. But careful choice of drugs and dosage is crucial.
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee, MS
Authors "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
In the process of clearing away the dead tumor, the immune cells may learn to attack the tumor (generating T cells against the tumor antigens). When combined with PD-1, these T cells are most likely why Jimmy Carter is now NED, despite the typical survival of around 3-4 months for the average patient in his situation.
The late Dr. Lloyd Old, the scientist who mentored the doctors mentioned in this article, once told us that he believed chemotherapy is synergistic with immunotherapy. The common notion that chemo destroys the immune system, and is therefore incompatible may not sufficiently capture some of the benefits of chemo.
For example, like radiation, chemo may also kill some tumor, releasing tumor antigens and creating T cells against them.
Also, chemo may decrease certain types of "bad" immune cells like Tregs (regulatory T cells) and MDSCs. These "bad" immune cells are powerful protectors of tumors, which may be one major reason why immunotherapies can eventually fail.
So, yes, chemo can be an ally to immunotherapy. But careful choice of drugs and dosage is crucial.
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee, MS
Authors "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
Having lost a wife to a very virulent form of breast cancer fourteen years ago, this article was of great interest. The treatment then was almost barbaric. It started with breast and lymph node removal, followed by very aggressive chemotherapy, which was painful, devastating, and completely destructive of any quality of life. Unfortunately, nothing produced results for all that suffering. I felt then, and I continue to feel there has to be a better way. Perhaps, we are now on to something that is more humane and more successful. Given the high incidence of breast cancer, breast cancer needs to be included in the coming studies.
7
I am very disappointed the article doesn't mention Northwest Bio therapeutics (Stock Symbol: NWBO) which is developing dendritic cell (DC) based cancer treatment vaccines called DCVax for all types of inoperable and operable cancers in late stage trials. It is cusp of major breakthroughs which will transform how cancers are treated in the future.
Currently, two types of psychotherapies have drawn attention, namely Cart-t and CI, but Cart-t as a group may have run into corner as the investment world finally come to a long overdue conclusion: this class of treatment is dangerous, cumbersome and costly, and its benefit/risk ratio is so unfavorable. See the recent four deaths in a p2 trial by JUNO.
CI as a class has shown some success with very limited treatable patient population due to its nature.
Increasingly, more and more people will realize DCVax as a therapeutic cancer vaccine platform will emerge as a new and more broad blockbuster cancer treatment class due to its pristine safety profile and potential significant efficacy; with combinations with CIs and/or Cart-t, the platform may be potentially a cure for some cancer indications.
It's a shame as if all media and the entire Wall Street have covertly prohibit the mention of DCVax, let alone some in-dept analysis!
When DCVax becomes tomorrow's standard of cares for many cancers, I guess no media or wall street analyses will feel any shame as if we are in a shameless world!
Currently, two types of psychotherapies have drawn attention, namely Cart-t and CI, but Cart-t as a group may have run into corner as the investment world finally come to a long overdue conclusion: this class of treatment is dangerous, cumbersome and costly, and its benefit/risk ratio is so unfavorable. See the recent four deaths in a p2 trial by JUNO.
CI as a class has shown some success with very limited treatable patient population due to its nature.
Increasingly, more and more people will realize DCVax as a therapeutic cancer vaccine platform will emerge as a new and more broad blockbuster cancer treatment class due to its pristine safety profile and potential significant efficacy; with combinations with CIs and/or Cart-t, the platform may be potentially a cure for some cancer indications.
It's a shame as if all media and the entire Wall Street have covertly prohibit the mention of DCVax, let alone some in-dept analysis!
When DCVax becomes tomorrow's standard of cares for many cancers, I guess no media or wall street analyses will feel any shame as if we are in a shameless world!
2
For many years, dendritic vaccines have been readily obtainable by any cancer patient in Germany.
In the US, a dendritic vaccine against a prostate-cancer-specific antigen is approved (Provenge). Due to the regulatory framework, all other dendritic vaccines need to undergo clinical trials before they can be used.
But dendritic vaccines only address one aspect of immunity -- that is, to create T cells against the patient's cancer. There are many such ways to achieve this goal.
A successful immunotherapy regimen should address all aspects -- T cell creation, stripping away of tumor defenses/checkpoints, reduction of Tregs and MDSCs (immune cells that protect tumors).
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
In the US, a dendritic vaccine against a prostate-cancer-specific antigen is approved (Provenge). Due to the regulatory framework, all other dendritic vaccines need to undergo clinical trials before they can be used.
But dendritic vaccines only address one aspect of immunity -- that is, to create T cells against the patient's cancer. There are many such ways to achieve this goal.
A successful immunotherapy regimen should address all aspects -- T cell creation, stripping away of tumor defenses/checkpoints, reduction of Tregs and MDSCs (immune cells that protect tumors).
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
1
Do people with autoimmune diseases get less cancer? And if they are treated with drugs that suppress their immunity, do they then up their risk for cancer?
11
Great/astute observations.
There are ample anecdotes that immunosuppressive drugs can allow growth of tumors and spread of cancer.
Likewise, patients who incur autoimmune-like side effects while on checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1/CTLA-4) have been observed to have better responses.
The immune system is complex, but as the late Dr. Lloyd Old used to tell us, there are really two major "arms" of the immune system:
One arm aims to attack foreign pathogens/cancer etc.
The other arm aims to minimize unintended attack on healthy tissues (prevent autoimmunity).
Part of the second arm are certain types of immune cells such as Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and MDSCs (myeloid-derived suppressor cells). These cells exist to help prevent autoimmunity. For example, they can actually kill T cells that try to attack healthy organs. Or they can strip Dendritic Cells of their ability to train T cells. Originally meant for protection against autoimmunity, these Tregs/MDSCs are co-opted by tumors for their protection.
So, yes, there is a definite relationship between autoimmunity and cancer. The pathways and cells involved are complex. It will take time for scientists to fully decipher all these relationships.
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
There are ample anecdotes that immunosuppressive drugs can allow growth of tumors and spread of cancer.
Likewise, patients who incur autoimmune-like side effects while on checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1/CTLA-4) have been observed to have better responses.
The immune system is complex, but as the late Dr. Lloyd Old used to tell us, there are really two major "arms" of the immune system:
One arm aims to attack foreign pathogens/cancer etc.
The other arm aims to minimize unintended attack on healthy tissues (prevent autoimmunity).
Part of the second arm are certain types of immune cells such as Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and MDSCs (myeloid-derived suppressor cells). These cells exist to help prevent autoimmunity. For example, they can actually kill T cells that try to attack healthy organs. Or they can strip Dendritic Cells of their ability to train T cells. Originally meant for protection against autoimmunity, these Tregs/MDSCs are co-opted by tumors for their protection.
So, yes, there is a definite relationship between autoimmunity and cancer. The pathways and cells involved are complex. It will take time for scientists to fully decipher all these relationships.
Rene Chee, PhD and Edward Chee, MS
Authors, "Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy"
1
Youve ignored the role of mitochondria and metabolism in cancer-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27471965. And needless to say the immmune system doesnt operate in a vacuum. To focus on immunity or any one aspect of cancer misses the mark. Why continue the same reductionism that has lead to high rates of failure in the past and has failed to substantially lower the prevalence of any chronic condition? As Einstein wrote you cant solve a problem with the same consciousness. Give your immunotherapy a rapid evaluation cycle for cancers-and if it doesnt lead to remission or cure or full functional restoration in 20 cancers then abandn it and move on to other types of treatments. Or try adaptive research for a change.
1
Checkpoint drugs offer another arrow in the quiver to fight cancer, clearly progress! I am dealing with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema is on the horizon. This disease is the third or fourth largest cause of death and mostly related to smoking. I quit forty years ago but am afflicted now. As an inflammation related disease I suspect immune functions are at play in the cause, perhaps autoimmune functions. Checkpoint drugs should be studied to target copd and perhaps many other diseases.
5
Immunotherapy was part of the regimen of treatment that saved my life.
In 1975, several years after my return from Vietnam and exposure to Agent Orange I was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin's Disease. I was advised to get my affairs in order.
The treatment that was suggested at Sloan by Dr. Burton Lee: a splenectomy followed by full body radiation. This was to be followed by 6 month course of MOPP chemotherapy. Dr Lee then added in the cavalier manner of many doctors in those days that this treatment was the only possibility for me. This was way to radical for me.
I chose to explore other options. After lots of research I went the Lukas Klinic in Arlesheim Switzerland where the centerpiece of their therapeutic approach was immunotherapy based on the concepts of anthroposophical medicine by Rudolf Steiner whose groundbreaking concepts in education led to the development of the Waldorf schools.
Lots of folks thought I was being foolhardy.
Perhaps I thought but I was getting better. After 2 months in Switzerland I returned home only to relapse. I finally agreed to have chemotherapy (MOPP) which cleared me of the disease after the first session.
The doctors called my response "remarkable"
I smiled and deep down believed it had everything with my treatment in Switzerland.
Immunotherapy way be a new therapy in the United States by it hardy new in the rest of the world.
In 1975, several years after my return from Vietnam and exposure to Agent Orange I was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin's Disease. I was advised to get my affairs in order.
The treatment that was suggested at Sloan by Dr. Burton Lee: a splenectomy followed by full body radiation. This was to be followed by 6 month course of MOPP chemotherapy. Dr Lee then added in the cavalier manner of many doctors in those days that this treatment was the only possibility for me. This was way to radical for me.
I chose to explore other options. After lots of research I went the Lukas Klinic in Arlesheim Switzerland where the centerpiece of their therapeutic approach was immunotherapy based on the concepts of anthroposophical medicine by Rudolf Steiner whose groundbreaking concepts in education led to the development of the Waldorf schools.
Lots of folks thought I was being foolhardy.
Perhaps I thought but I was getting better. After 2 months in Switzerland I returned home only to relapse. I finally agreed to have chemotherapy (MOPP) which cleared me of the disease after the first session.
The doctors called my response "remarkable"
I smiled and deep down believed it had everything with my treatment in Switzerland.
Immunotherapy way be a new therapy in the United States by it hardy new in the rest of the world.
12
Curious the article did not mention studies, approval, or accessibility in other countries that may have affordable health care and have already approved immunotherapy. Thanks for comment - one may think that Europe would be a step ahead on this?
2
Many who were treated for Hodgkins and "cured" in the 1970s by splenectomy and radiation are now dying of stomach cancer.
1
This article sheds light on exciting therapy options for the future, but failed to mention the many years immunotherapy has already been studied and implemented abroad. The US cannot take credit for leading the way! My husband had esophogeal cancer & received dendritic cell immunotherapy in Cologne, Germany 10 years ago. Looking back, I feel the protocol should have been surgery first followed by immunotherapy, taking advantage of an immune system that was fully intact. Instead the AMA’s guidelines of major chemo & radiation first didn't work at all reducing the size of his tumor. Instead it gave him intense esophagitis which left him unable to eat leaving him thin, weak and barely able to survive surgery. Hit or miss? By the time we got to Cologne his immune system was shot and his ability to get calories in (needed for immunotherapy to work) was shot as well. Even so, after his first session in Cologne, his many palpable tumors melted away - within a very short time. We are still controlled by insurance companies and big pharma who require giant payoffs before allowing life-saving treatment on our own soil. I guess they finally see there is big profit to be made with immunotherapy. That said, treatment needs to be covered by insurance otherwise what is the point of surviving when you are financially bankrupted by the treatment that saved your life?
2
The notion of an "immune system" is an old and very limited view of the body's "system" of maintenance and repair.
It has produced useful treatments in infections and cancer, but also treatments with devastating effects.
If we consider that many disorders represent either a failure of normal maintenance and repair mechanisms, or an abnormal function of this "system", then it becomes obvious that we should devote some attention and resources to understand it beyond just the perception of it as an army against threats.
That would involve research into normal human biology rather than the extreme focus on disease research. And there is ess obvious profit in that area.
It has produced useful treatments in infections and cancer, but also treatments with devastating effects.
If we consider that many disorders represent either a failure of normal maintenance and repair mechanisms, or an abnormal function of this "system", then it becomes obvious that we should devote some attention and resources to understand it beyond just the perception of it as an army against threats.
That would involve research into normal human biology rather than the extreme focus on disease research. And there is ess obvious profit in that area.
24
Stephen, how do you think the advances in immunotherapy came about? I'll tell you. They came about because scientists studied the "normal human biology" of how the immune system works and in the past 20-30 years have made major advances in understanding that biology. And the normal human biological function of the immune system not only includes preventing and eradicating infections, but also eliminating aberrant cells that have become cancerous. A great deal of resources, both from tax dollar funded NIH grants, private foundation grants, and pharma/biotech research, has been devoted to understanding the normal function of the immune system by academic and industry researchers and to think otherwise is simply incorrect. Just follow the progress over the years made by Jim Allison, the key scientist discussed in this article, and multiple it by 1000 and you'll have some inkling of the basic research into the normal workings of the immune system that has led to the cancer immunotherapy revolution.
1
Advances in knowlegde have not been translated into prventing cancer or lowering the prevalence of most cancers. Its unfortunate that researchers focus on knowledge and not on results- We all have paid too much in taxes and too much in hopes and received little from medical research. There is to much optimism bias and too little determination to get results for the American public. Your algorithms are primitive for treatment, there is a glacial pace of translation and high rates of failure. Therapeutic inertia quickly sets in in cancer treatment after standard preparations fail- its shameless for there are so many treatments that could be used.
1
Revolution- i tip my hat to the new revolution and smile and grin at the changes all around. Im sorry your hype doesnt serve the public good fr to much research is fraudulent and wasteful- and the costs f research dont justify the modest results for society. I understand true believers in research cant understand that the public expect more from their tax dollars from researchers. I guess its one of the bias blind spots of the research commmunity.
I am truly humbled, feel blessed to be part of incredibly talented and passionate global team that is bringing Opdivo, Yervoy and continues to develop many more.
So glad to know the skills I learnt in school and long hours I spent in side lab are worthwhile.
So glad to know the skills I learnt in school and long hours I spent in side lab are worthwhile.
7
Thanks to you and your colleagues for choosing to use your intellectual ability to pursue science and improve life for humankind. Grateful you did not choose instead to work in finance.
2
The mother of a friend of mine was diagnosed with leukemia. This was over 35 years ago. I don't know what kind of leukemia it was, but she expected to die. Several months into her diagnosis, she contracted chicken pox. The leukemia disappeared. I knew her after this event had happened and she said her case had been written up in a medical text. She is alive and well to this day.
9
For all the nay sayers, here is what gets me going, day after day... The true stories of patients, their families and struggles and their hope. Articles like these...
I refuse to surrender to pessimism, I will continue to put on my white lab coat, keep chugging as long as I am capable and sane. That's my duty.
I refuse to surrender to pessimism, I will continue to put on my white lab coat, keep chugging as long as I am capable and sane. That's my duty.
17
Cancer is adaptive, like HIV. It took a combination of drugs to control HIV. Surprising that this clever concept is not used more often in cancer treatment.
2
One can understand drug companies' explanation of why they charge high prices for new successful drugs to continue work they do as discussed in this article.
But the Wall Streeters who raise prices for old drugs ten and twenty fold overnight to drive up stock prices to enrich themselves are criminals, who in fact take away resources from research and new medicine that actually do save lives.
But the Wall Streeters who raise prices for old drugs ten and twenty fold overnight to drive up stock prices to enrich themselves are criminals, who in fact take away resources from research and new medicine that actually do save lives.
6
This is a story that shows life, in Today's world, is not necessarily a bleak 1. Let me share some experience with your readers : Until about over a year ago 3, 4,or 5 times week a stomach ache wakes me up at night.The pain is so excruciating I end up getting only 2 or 3 hrs of sleep, it looked as if it will b fatal .I was repeatedly told by family members, that includes a Medical specialist and a Pharmacist, to b checked and take medicines and I politely ignored it all the time.The problem started during the 5 yrs that took me to build a fine house with a green area with 70 or so well tended 4 plants and herbs .This involved dealing with some, hustlers, plumbers and carpenters who over sell them selves costing U more 4 corrective steps.The pain got severe when my cousin ( with whom we survived the worst persecution period in this country's history ) and his wife died of AIDS on the same day and 1 yr apart.Also, during the above period when I was almost daily tortured ( along with my sister who is A Medical specialist now and others ) our feet was oozing pus and blood( in our urine 2) regularly and we were told that Pol prisoners do not deserve Med attention.Our feet had healed long ago, we have since then run a 12 or more annual 10 or 11Ks.There is another experience, but the point of all this is that the body has some way of healing itself the doctors in Ur story uncovered some of the mystery of the how.When my US Visa eligibility is due in 09/16 hope 2 appear at Slo.K.TMD.
3
For about thirty years radiosurgery has achieved the same results of killing cancer with no cutting or bleeding. I hope the Socialist Democratic Party reads the article as both Clinton and Sanders constantly bash the pharmaceutical companies of America. They should be ashamed of themselves.
1
Does Hillary bash based on research pharma does, or maybe the profiteering and bankruptcies? We need a bit more detail shed on this comment. The lack of equal access to treatment that is caused by the costs, as noted in this article, is unethical. The unequal access to health care is the true death panel in the U.S.
1
I was diagnosed 8 yrs ago with an aggressive cancer, synovial sarcoma, eventually twice-recurrent and metastatic. Today, I am 3 yrs cancer free because we chose immunotherapy over the “proven” path.
Soon after first-line treatment, the cases of long-term regressions by Coley’s Toxins caught our eye. As my husband and I researched the science, the plausibility of an immune-based cure became apparent (I’m a biology researcher and my husband, an engineer). This started us on a journey to obtain immunotherapy in 2009.
We had the privilege of personal guidance by Dr. Lloyd Old, who mentored many of the researchers and physicians mentioned in this article. Due to a dearth of clinical trials in the US, my husband and I traveled to Mexico and Germany for immunotherapy, exhausting our life savings.
Today, patients have access to powerful approved immunotherapies, off-label treatment and copious clinical trials.
We spent the past 2 years writing a book, titled “Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy.” Our passion is to inspire patients that a cure IS possible. Set in the backdrop of our cancer journey, we share the wisdom Dr. Old imparted to us and our multi-pronged strategy to activate various aspects of immunity: 200 infusions of Coley’s Toxins. An NY-ESO-1 peptide vaccine. Dendritic vaccines and NK cell infusions. Freezing tumors in-situ as a broad vaccine. Using diet to weaken defenses around tumors.
Thanks for writing this article and spreading the hope of cancer immunotherapy.
Soon after first-line treatment, the cases of long-term regressions by Coley’s Toxins caught our eye. As my husband and I researched the science, the plausibility of an immune-based cure became apparent (I’m a biology researcher and my husband, an engineer). This started us on a journey to obtain immunotherapy in 2009.
We had the privilege of personal guidance by Dr. Lloyd Old, who mentored many of the researchers and physicians mentioned in this article. Due to a dearth of clinical trials in the US, my husband and I traveled to Mexico and Germany for immunotherapy, exhausting our life savings.
Today, patients have access to powerful approved immunotherapies, off-label treatment and copious clinical trials.
We spent the past 2 years writing a book, titled “Curing Cancer with Immunotherapy.” Our passion is to inspire patients that a cure IS possible. Set in the backdrop of our cancer journey, we share the wisdom Dr. Old imparted to us and our multi-pronged strategy to activate various aspects of immunity: 200 infusions of Coley’s Toxins. An NY-ESO-1 peptide vaccine. Dendritic vaccines and NK cell infusions. Freezing tumors in-situ as a broad vaccine. Using diet to weaken defenses around tumors.
Thanks for writing this article and spreading the hope of cancer immunotherapy.
3
I'm surprised that there is no example/anecdote for breast cancer.
1
These physicians and scientists are mankind's true heroes. They toil doggedly, often for years if not decades, in pursuit of decoding the mysteries of life.
As noted, their research among others, should be fully funded by the Federal Government. By delaying their research and resulting breakthroughs by even a month, condemns countless patients, families, and loved ones to the pain of a shortened life.
As noted, their research among others, should be fully funded by the Federal Government. By delaying their research and resulting breakthroughs by even a month, condemns countless patients, families, and loved ones to the pain of a shortened life.
56
And as a taxpayer, I wouldn't mind paying for it IF both Houses get their act together, stop the pork they include in their many bills, stop the political bickering, stop their three second sound bites, stop the headlines, and do their jobs for 3/4 of what they earn now to do that!
Think of how far the money spent on this political nonsense could take us in advancing and providing at a reasonable cost to people who need it, not just the politicians.
And I'm a conservative!
Think of how far the money spent on this political nonsense could take us in advancing and providing at a reasonable cost to people who need it, not just the politicians.
And I'm a conservative!
I see a posts about a War On Cancer and references to moonshots, but what really needs to happen is there has to be a free-flowing sharing of data, ideas, intelligence and intellectual property in the interest of a public health policy and not if economics to unlock the power and potential to cure this disease. The economics of cancer trials and biopharmaceutical interests undermine the human health interest and delay cures over intellectual property rights. Tesla shared its intellectual property battery technology last year - drug companies should do the same if their interests are truly altruistic for the benefit of patient health.
4
This is why I believe in science.
4
Every Cancer Patient deserves the right to have safe, legal, access to Medical Marijuana.
Every. Single. One.
Every. Single. One.
6
Medical (mostly male) ego and science have long been at loggerheads with what is the best course of action for the patient. Cancer treatment is no exception. In fact, due to the breadth of the field it was tailor made for bureaucratic inertia.
As Bob Marley so succinctly put it, "Everybody wants to go to heaven (but) nobody wants to die."
As Bob Marley so succinctly put it, "Everybody wants to go to heaven (but) nobody wants to die."
5
We've all lost way too many friends and family members to Cancer.
We need to "take the gloves off" and declare all out war on cancer.
The fact that we spent twenty times as much on the wars in Iraq than we have in forty years on the war on cancer is a national disgrace -- so is the fact that we only pay our postdocs $40K a year.
We need to "take the gloves off" and declare all out war on cancer.
The fact that we spent twenty times as much on the wars in Iraq than we have in forty years on the war on cancer is a national disgrace -- so is the fact that we only pay our postdocs $40K a year.
11
The story is one of the best examples of basic science achieving a breakthrough and the pharmaceutical industry bringing it to market. Let's hope they get their appropriate patent protection but not more through advanced formulations, litigation, and lobbying. Another take the NYT could do on this concept is the large number of "me-too" or similar drugs that are going to hit the market as the pharmaceuticals capitalize on this concept and whether it will create confusion and excess cost versus constructive competition to the market.
2
As a lady with lung cancer and multiple myeloma I'm grateful for hospitals like MSK for all that they do for us very ill folks. A lot of folks here give their opinions without having any idea what chemo is like. I just swallowed my Revlimid chemotherapy pill and it's no fun. I think the best thing that helps me is watching a good Larry Dsvid rerun of Curb your Enthusiasm!! That's a good thing for MY immune system
7
Ditto that!! Keep at it and let's enjoy the new season of CYE next year - it's excellent therapy for all of our ailments!!
1
We need to declare All Out War On Cancer.
The fact that we spend so little on Cancer Research compared to the number of Americans, including American Children, that it tortures, maims, and kills, is a national disgrace.
The fact that we spend so little on Cancer Research compared to the number of Americans, including American Children, that it tortures, maims, and kills, is a national disgrace.
15
oh please- cancer gets much more support then chronic pain and chronic pain effects many times more people.
1
Declaring war on most things--drugs, cancer, crime, Iraq--has a poor track record. Try again.
1
One of the glaring omissions in this article is Dendritic Cell Vaccines. UCLA and a small biotech called Northwest Biotherapeutics developed a DC vaccine for newly diagnosed Glioblastomas. The results of a large, international Phase III trial are possibly coming to a close in the coming months. The patient recieves only a few shots per month of their own immune cells with little or no side effects and no danger of death from the treatment.
Additionally, UCLA has done a trial in mice that combined this DC Vaccine with Checkpoint Inhibitors that more than doubled the response of the Checkpoint Inhibitor alone, and showed the DC Vaccine also did better than the Checkpoint Inhibitor alone. Further, UCLA again did a study that showed DC Vaccine upregulated T-Cells to fight the Cancer and that this occurred not only in the micro environment of the Tumor but in the peripheral blood as well, meaning the vaccine was creating an enhanced immune response and memory of the Tumor cells. This increase in T-Cell response was then found to correlate with overall survival. One additional finding was that DC Vaccine, upregulated the Checkpoint molecule on the Tumor cell, which had already been shown by those developing the Checkpoint Inhibitor to correlate with response to treatment. This combination of DCVax with Checkpoint Inhibitors is being planned for Phase II trials in the coming months and this should be the biggest news out there right now. The problem is we only hear about big Pharma
Additionally, UCLA has done a trial in mice that combined this DC Vaccine with Checkpoint Inhibitors that more than doubled the response of the Checkpoint Inhibitor alone, and showed the DC Vaccine also did better than the Checkpoint Inhibitor alone. Further, UCLA again did a study that showed DC Vaccine upregulated T-Cells to fight the Cancer and that this occurred not only in the micro environment of the Tumor but in the peripheral blood as well, meaning the vaccine was creating an enhanced immune response and memory of the Tumor cells. This increase in T-Cell response was then found to correlate with overall survival. One additional finding was that DC Vaccine, upregulated the Checkpoint molecule on the Tumor cell, which had already been shown by those developing the Checkpoint Inhibitor to correlate with response to treatment. This combination of DCVax with Checkpoint Inhibitors is being planned for Phase II trials in the coming months and this should be the biggest news out there right now. The problem is we only hear about big Pharma
26
just for info on NWBO: "The company’s lead, and only real noteworthy, candidate is halted from enrolling in an ongoing phase III, and has been that way for coming up a full year, but management refuses to tell markets exactly why the halt a) came about in the first place and b) is still in place".
1
A little over a year ago I was diagnosed with Merkel Cell Carcinoma which is the deadliest form of skin cancer around. It is also very rare with about 1500 patients per year in the US. One out of three patients die from this cancer. I would apprciate future reporting on immunotherapy for Merkel Cell. They have had a few trials with two immunotherapy treatments with 30-50 patients with success for about 25% of the patients. My other medical issue is I have Lupus and it is highly likely I developed Merkel Cell from the immune suppressive treatment for my Lupus. I am not sure if I would even be an appropriate patient for immunotherapy as that could reactivate my Lupus.
9
Mary Ann I don't know where you are in treatment but Dr Chris Bichakjian at the University of Michigan is a huge Merkel Cell expert. Just food for thought
2
God bless, Mary Ann...
Though offering a thorough and accurate depiction of most immunotherapy options, the author has neglected one promising class of agents, which also comes from the legacy of Dr. Coley: oncolytic immunotherapy. The first such agent—talimogene laherparepvec—was approved by the FDA this year for the treatment of melanoma (Imlygic, Amgen). Drugs like Imlygic use a live virus or other pathogen to fight cancer by reprogramming the pathogen to selectively attack and destroy cancer cells.
While Dr. Coley and others found a connection between infection and cancer, it was never well understood. The hypothesis covered in this article is that the immune system can be made to attack cancer cells. But another hypothesis is that cancer cells, being mutated, might be more susceptible to infection by pathogens than healthy cells.
A virus reproduces by invading and hijacking a cell, replicating until it overwhelms and destroys that cell. Imlygic is a live herpes virus that has been attenuated and reprogrammed to reproduce ONLY in cancer cells (thereby destroying them) while having no effect on healthy cells. This has been proven effective in several cancers, including melanoma—where some patients with advanced disease had complete remission.
Imlygic is also being studied in other cancers, and other oncolytic immunotherapies are in development, reprogramming everything from adeno and vaccinia to polio and even HIV to become highly selective “cancer killing machines”.
While Dr. Coley and others found a connection between infection and cancer, it was never well understood. The hypothesis covered in this article is that the immune system can be made to attack cancer cells. But another hypothesis is that cancer cells, being mutated, might be more susceptible to infection by pathogens than healthy cells.
A virus reproduces by invading and hijacking a cell, replicating until it overwhelms and destroys that cell. Imlygic is a live herpes virus that has been attenuated and reprogrammed to reproduce ONLY in cancer cells (thereby destroying them) while having no effect on healthy cells. This has been proven effective in several cancers, including melanoma—where some patients with advanced disease had complete remission.
Imlygic is also being studied in other cancers, and other oncolytic immunotherapies are in development, reprogramming everything from adeno and vaccinia to polio and even HIV to become highly selective “cancer killing machines”.
14
no thanks- i dont want a reengineered disease to be in me wrecking havoc- thats mad science and bad science.
1
Bacillus Calmette–Guérin is an immunotherapy treatment used in bladder cancer, quite successfully. I was treated with it 15 years ago for the recurrence of bladder cancer that I had and have been fine since then. The treatment is based on tuberculosis immunity. It is not bad science or mad science.
1
Research shows reengineered viruses and bacteria can lead t cancer- your claim after this because of this is a common fallacy. Many people believe the body doesnt fight cancer and that medicines are the only thing that could pssibly have an effect on an illness. So your argument is not very convincing.
It always appreciate the writings of the NY Times science and health writers, people like Donald McNeil, Jr., Gina Kolata, Carl Zimmer, Sabrina Tavernise and Denise Grady to name a few. They do a much better job imo than any other group of NY Times writers.
Nor do I especially want to die right now, from cancer or anything else.
But each person *will* die some day. That is evitable. We need to be able to face die with dignity instead of fearing it.
And the idea that the "golden years" are golden is a lie meant to sell products.
And even if cancer is "defeated", most people in the world won't have access to "the cure."
And overpopulation is literally destroying the planet that sustains us as we watch (although most people are ignoring the reality).
So it is difficult for me to get excited about any news about extending life.
My life has been good. I have been lucky. I have good genes. I can take the news, good or bad...except I think Donald Trump becoming president may kill me!
Nor do I especially want to die right now, from cancer or anything else.
But each person *will* die some day. That is evitable. We need to be able to face die with dignity instead of fearing it.
And the idea that the "golden years" are golden is a lie meant to sell products.
And even if cancer is "defeated", most people in the world won't have access to "the cure."
And overpopulation is literally destroying the planet that sustains us as we watch (although most people are ignoring the reality).
So it is difficult for me to get excited about any news about extending life.
My life has been good. I have been lucky. I have good genes. I can take the news, good or bad...except I think Donald Trump becoming president may kill me!
40
Jon - I hear you. I personally may even agree with you. But, having lost many friends and family over the years, I can assure you that the will to die is one of the first things to leave most people.
1
It seems rather selfish to waste one's fortune to try to defy death and deny one's children the assets and opportunities to fulfill their own lives.
Lifestyle more a factor X2 than genes
1
Cancer is such an insidious disease. That such progress is being made is very heartening.
7
The one disease that was not mentioned in this article is DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma), which my 7 year old son was diagnosed with March 29, 2016. 0% survival rate. Even though we proceeded with Photon Radiation Therapy at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, we chose NOT to put him through chemotherapy. Instead, we enrolled him at the IOZK Clinic in Cologne, Germany under the care of Dr. Stefaan Van Gool. My wife, my son and a personal friend just left this morning to fly 5,000 miles so that he can undergo his 3rd treatment. Many families in the DIPG community worldwide are electing to go to Cologne at extraordinary expense to assure that their child has the highest likelihood of gaining the most best days. In the meantime, I am working to challenge every pediatric oncologist I come into contact with about why we have to leave the United States, the greatest country in the world, to provide my son the best care available.
Also, did you know that only 4% of total cancer research goes to children???????? Our kids. We can spend billions on the freaking Zika virus but parents whom have lost a child to DIPG Are responsible for raising thousands of dollars through a foundation in order to fund pediatric brain cancer research (Chad tough, Michael Mosier, Jessie Rees, etc) THAT is a story in of itself. #hopeforhollis #mostbestdays
Also, did you know that only 4% of total cancer research goes to children???????? Our kids. We can spend billions on the freaking Zika virus but parents whom have lost a child to DIPG Are responsible for raising thousands of dollars through a foundation in order to fund pediatric brain cancer research (Chad tough, Michael Mosier, Jessie Rees, etc) THAT is a story in of itself. #hopeforhollis #mostbestdays
38
The word in "Science" is that Zika is unstoppable.
3
And yet, I believe even the NYT castigated "the Republicans" for not opening up the floodgates for Zika funding without explaining why the evil Republicans might have done such a thing (I am not a Republican).
Maybe they heard testimony that any money thrown at Zika would be wasted at this point. I personally don't see how the virus can realistically be contained or controlled; we can't even eliminate malaria vectors.
That doesn't mean we do nothing about Zika, but it does mean that we divide research dollars carefully and not at the expense of children dying of brain cancer.
Maybe they heard testimony that any money thrown at Zika would be wasted at this point. I personally don't see how the virus can realistically be contained or controlled; we can't even eliminate malaria vectors.
That doesn't mean we do nothing about Zika, but it does mean that we divide research dollars carefully and not at the expense of children dying of brain cancer.
2
Mr. Bolger, your attention seeking comment may be true but it is more harmful than helpful. It promotes a fatalistic view of Zika and mischaracterizes the information published in Science magazine.
Here is a summary statement of the threat in the Science article titled "Assessing the global threat from Zika virus":
"The global threat posed by any emerging pathogen depends on its epidemiology, clinical features and our ability to implement effective control measures (Fig. 1). In an interconnected world, introductions of ZIKV to areas free of the virus may be inevitable. Whether these introductions result in only a few subsequent cases or a significant epidemic depends on the local ecology, population immunity, the demographics of the region, and random chance."
A virus like Zika becomes epidemic when many mosquitoes interact with an unprotected human population. We can prevent or greatly reduce the probability of an epidemic by greatly reducing both the mosquito population and by preventing the remaining mosquitoes from biting humans (window screens, repellent, etc).
Yet after being told this by the CDC, Republicans in Congress refused to pass spending on control of Zika and are now taking an 11 week vacation. In recent weeks Zika has infected about one-quarter of residents of Puerto Rico and has entered mainland U.S.
As these Congressional representatives hold townhall meetings with us, ask them to return to Washington for a special session to fund Zika prevention.
Here is a summary statement of the threat in the Science article titled "Assessing the global threat from Zika virus":
"The global threat posed by any emerging pathogen depends on its epidemiology, clinical features and our ability to implement effective control measures (Fig. 1). In an interconnected world, introductions of ZIKV to areas free of the virus may be inevitable. Whether these introductions result in only a few subsequent cases or a significant epidemic depends on the local ecology, population immunity, the demographics of the region, and random chance."
A virus like Zika becomes epidemic when many mosquitoes interact with an unprotected human population. We can prevent or greatly reduce the probability of an epidemic by greatly reducing both the mosquito population and by preventing the remaining mosquitoes from biting humans (window screens, repellent, etc).
Yet after being told this by the CDC, Republicans in Congress refused to pass spending on control of Zika and are now taking an 11 week vacation. In recent weeks Zika has infected about one-quarter of residents of Puerto Rico and has entered mainland U.S.
As these Congressional representatives hold townhall meetings with us, ask them to return to Washington for a special session to fund Zika prevention.
Amazing. As a nation, shouldn't we put our resources behind the basic science that makes such advances happen? How about a few less F-35s and a few more researchers and labs?
46
Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes...
If, we are citizens are "for" this then why - in our so called democracy - can't this work??
If, we are citizens are "for" this then why - in our so called democracy - can't this work??
5
It is disheartening that those with means are able to get cutting-edge treatment while those who can't are faced with an absence of hope. Income disparity can be a difference of life or death.
3
Saw yesterday on the Brookings Institute website a detail of who pays their share for nato. The list was very short about six countries, our share is 669 billion. Better this money be re-direct to the NIH.
This is great news, and I know someone on this protocol now -- I hope it works. Unfortunately, as the article states, not everyone will get this treatment due to our broken and unjust healthcare system. The person I know was able to get into a clinical trial with the help of someone who works for the research facility (it's who you know).
Capitalism has determined that there will be winners and losers, people allowed to live and people allowed to die -- and we seem to accept this outcome. Only a government program that provides the research (with enough incentive for the researchers) and then provides the treatments for a reasonable price will ensure that these achievements will be fairly and equitable distributed throughout the population.
I wish anyone with cancer to get the help they need. I also wish there was more research on why we get cancer, the Warburg effect and the metabolic aspects of cancer.
Capitalism has determined that there will be winners and losers, people allowed to live and people allowed to die -- and we seem to accept this outcome. Only a government program that provides the research (with enough incentive for the researchers) and then provides the treatments for a reasonable price will ensure that these achievements will be fairly and equitable distributed throughout the population.
I wish anyone with cancer to get the help they need. I also wish there was more research on why we get cancer, the Warburg effect and the metabolic aspects of cancer.
18
Our scramble to escape death will probably be the death of this planet.
7
Your comment perhaps unwittingly implies that researchers need "incentives" to do the research. I think that's called: having one's study funded. Scientists and physicians cannot do their work if it is not paid for. They have to eat and pay their mortgages too!
1
Congress (alas) should boost spending on basic and applied research in all the sciences and all fields of engineering. And because Congress spends freely only on weapons, Congress should establish the links between the DoD and scientific research that the Mansfield Amendment broke in 1970. Since that ill-advised break, the fraction of the GDP that Congress spends on science has dropped from 0.006 to 0.0037: http://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/RDGDP%3B.jpg
21
If we spend less on the military and apportion more to medical research, we could make great strides. Also, in my experience, you have to keep searching for doctors who are more progressive and willing to fight for you. I've had one doctor actually WALK OUT on me because I questioned if there were newer procedures for bunion surgery. (There are, and I had it done the new way, with no post-operative pain and six weeks total recovery time instead of three months.) My mother saw five doctors before someone cagily diagnosed a disease, but the doctor who headed the wound care center threw her hands up and told US to find a dermatologist. That doctor is a member of the AMA and various medical organizations, subscribes to medical journals, and attends conferences. I don't, but after many calls, I found FIVE doctors between Washington, D.C. and Boston who have had experience treating my mother's painful disease. My mother has been pain-free for FIVE years.
36
May I ask, what it's the new vs. Old bunion surgery method?
These results are welcome and indicate that chemicals and general pollution that are known to compromise the immune system are a danger.
As demonstrated with antibiotics we can only trick nature so much.
It may be that some chemicals/additives/pollutants that compromise immune system can only be addressed now with actions that affect the long term (clean energy etc) but unnecessary agricultural, food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical additives could be addressed right away?
As demonstrated with antibiotics we can only trick nature so much.
It may be that some chemicals/additives/pollutants that compromise immune system can only be addressed now with actions that affect the long term (clean energy etc) but unnecessary agricultural, food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical additives could be addressed right away?
5
I would just like to mention that another possible way to strengthen ones immune system comes from older systems that are currently being employed by 100s of thousands of people the world over on a daily basis, and does not involve powerful drugs. The practitioners of the ancient health systems of Yoga and Chi Kung have for many centuries focused on harnessing the bodies own systems for fighting chronic disease, age related illnesses and conditions affecting the neuromuscular and endocrine system....As a physiotherapist of 30 years who has also has been a long time practitioner and instructor of Tai Chi and yoga, I have had some little success in helping stroke patients and head injured patients (among others) regain better balance, integration of their neuromuscular systems and visual-motor system through using principles 've learned through my work with Chi Kung and Hatha Yoga prana yama. I also note that in reviewing recent research into the use of these older eastern integrative health systems, I note time and again their effectiveness in building the immune system in its adherents; and I would suggest that perhaps certain centering, guided imaging, relaxation, breathing and prana or Chi circulation techniques may be of some use as an adjunct to the newer pharmacological approaches in immune enhancement mentioned in this article.
18
This is just nonsense and shows a complete misunderstanding/ignorance.
The main problem isn't the strength of the immune system; it's very strong.
It's so strong that people have died due to the strong reaction of their mighty immune system.
The main problem is that cancer wears a mask, so the immune system ignores it.
Yoga will make you feel better, but it cannot make you better.
And skipping yoga is not the reason many people die of cancer.
The main problem isn't the strength of the immune system; it's very strong.
It's so strong that people have died due to the strong reaction of their mighty immune system.
The main problem is that cancer wears a mask, so the immune system ignores it.
Yoga will make you feel better, but it cannot make you better.
And skipping yoga is not the reason many people die of cancer.
2
"You see, cancer doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care how many NBA titles you’ve won or how much yoga you do." --Karrem Abdul-Jabbar, after having had cancer.
I'm seven years out clear after stage 4 endometrial. Yoga may have helped with my recovery from cancer, but for sure it didn't prevent my getting it. I applaud your work helping people enhance their healing with it. But please be clear that doing everything right doesn't prevent cancer and people who never get cancer did not earn that by doing everything right. As though we know what "everything right" would even be.
I'm seven years out clear after stage 4 endometrial. Yoga may have helped with my recovery from cancer, but for sure it didn't prevent my getting it. I applaud your work helping people enhance their healing with it. But please be clear that doing everything right doesn't prevent cancer and people who never get cancer did not earn that by doing everything right. As though we know what "everything right" would even be.
1
Does anyone know if there are trials of Immunology for clear cell ovarian cancer? Sign me up! Very little has changed in the treatment for this very deadly disease in decades.
8
You can go to clinical trials.gov to look for ongoing clinical trials.
4
My girlfriend, a 49 year old with Stage 4 clear cell ovarian cancer, is currently in an immunotherapy trial at Sloan Kettering in NYC.
7
Thank you. I'll check this out!
God bless these and all the brave souls (patients, doctors, and scientists) who participate in clinical trials to advance treatment for life threatening diseases. My late husband participated in a clinical trial during his battle with melanoma, extending his life by months. While we would have preferred years to months, that time was precious, and I believe he drew solace from having made that contribution to science.
17
My mom died in my arms 20 years ago today of non-small-cell lung cancer. She was diagnosed and treated with chemo and radiation in Buffalo NY at Roswell Park. There was never any prospect of hope or optimism afforded to her by the oncologists at the time. In fact, it was explained that she had smoked cigarettes and should have expected it. The sign-off on her treatment and outpatient care was perfunctory, at best.
I am so very, very happy that innovation and, more importantly, open-mindedness has found its way into cancer medicine for the presumed terminally ill. Even if it is true that many alternative treatments are at best quackery, the open-minded health practitioner and researcher do far greater for the patient than one of assured opinion on practice and causality.
It is sad that Helen Coley Nauts had to champion a deeper exploration of her father's work and overcome a default mode of establishment thinking and careerism that dismisses potential learning and good science. I'm grateful she did, many others will not suffer because of it.
I fear we still depend upon such outsider perserverance to advance research, understanding and good practice today.
If I could change one thing about the science and health establishments it would be less defense about what is presumed and more offense about what might be better – with greater integrity on admitting mistakes and better transparency on not knowing as much as we think, say or do at times.
And that's ok.
I am so very, very happy that innovation and, more importantly, open-mindedness has found its way into cancer medicine for the presumed terminally ill. Even if it is true that many alternative treatments are at best quackery, the open-minded health practitioner and researcher do far greater for the patient than one of assured opinion on practice and causality.
It is sad that Helen Coley Nauts had to champion a deeper exploration of her father's work and overcome a default mode of establishment thinking and careerism that dismisses potential learning and good science. I'm grateful she did, many others will not suffer because of it.
I fear we still depend upon such outsider perserverance to advance research, understanding and good practice today.
If I could change one thing about the science and health establishments it would be less defense about what is presumed and more offense about what might be better – with greater integrity on admitting mistakes and better transparency on not knowing as much as we think, say or do at times.
And that's ok.
23
Coley wasnt the only one with pioneering ideas in cancer. But the history of cancer is of largely suppressed discoveries in the name of business interests. Its ashame that after so many billions of dollars spent on research for cancer that so few treatments are available. Its clear proof that the good of people with cancer is subordinated to organizational interests and right wing authoritarianism.
6
Dave, I think your sentiments are probably heartfelt but miss the mark in my view. I'm not an oncologist but I've had some experience helping care for children with cancer. Most are voluntarily enrolled in well designed trials. They benefit from what's been learned scientifically, while having the opportunity to benefit from and contribute to future advances. I've seen very little 'organizational' let alone 'right wing' authoritarianism at play. (But every medical system, like any organization of humans, does have some level of friction and dysfunction.)
New and nonstandard therapies are often known to oncologists, but their use has much more to do with the underlying research and its applicability to a particular patient. It's important that pie-in-the-sky thinking not overwhelm what's tried and true, while acknowledging the real limits of current knowledge. Families are understandably terrified, and almost always have difficulty processing heaps of new information. They usually deal better with the tremendous challenges of cancer if they work with a steady, knowledgeable, and compassionate team.
I think our current medical system suffers much more from the lack of universal access to affordable and effective care, for-profit insurance companies that add little value, skyrocketing drug costs that mostly pad the bottom line for pharmaceutical companies, and the overall expense of our system relative to equally effective if not better systems in other countries.
New and nonstandard therapies are often known to oncologists, but their use has much more to do with the underlying research and its applicability to a particular patient. It's important that pie-in-the-sky thinking not overwhelm what's tried and true, while acknowledging the real limits of current knowledge. Families are understandably terrified, and almost always have difficulty processing heaps of new information. They usually deal better with the tremendous challenges of cancer if they work with a steady, knowledgeable, and compassionate team.
I think our current medical system suffers much more from the lack of universal access to affordable and effective care, for-profit insurance companies that add little value, skyrocketing drug costs that mostly pad the bottom line for pharmaceutical companies, and the overall expense of our system relative to equally effective if not better systems in other countries.
1
Research has shown most doctors are conservative- right wing in their politics. Most advisory committees at NIH are doctors ar phd- conspicuously absent are the unorganized sector so to speak. Even the PCORI board is dominated by organizational interests. So your statements are not based on the facts.
The biggest complaint about medicine in the last generation is not listening and lack of respect- thats nnot compassionate from where i came from. A GAO report done a few yeaars ago shows research is ot done on the basis of disease burden-and as is very well known NIH cherry picks-here is a recent article by Ioannidis that also contradicts your notion of fairness in what is researched-
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2541515. I am unaware of any facts that would support your opinion. Kindly share the facts that support your opinions.
The biggest complaint about medicine in the last generation is not listening and lack of respect- thats nnot compassionate from where i came from. A GAO report done a few yeaars ago shows research is ot done on the basis of disease burden-and as is very well known NIH cherry picks-here is a recent article by Ioannidis that also contradicts your notion of fairness in what is researched-
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2541515. I am unaware of any facts that would support your opinion. Kindly share the facts that support your opinions.
1
Research on immunotherapy has gone through a rocky history, as this article suggests. Dr. Coley's treatments were dismissed during a long period, and eventually taken seriously by some. This article does not mention the pioneering work of Dr. Lloyd Old, who took up Dr. Coley's theories and directed the Cancer Research Institute for forty years at memorial Sloan-Kettering, in the face of skepticism from the scientific community. In the final years of Dr. Old's life he was certain that immunotherapy would transform the treatment of cancer, as it is now promising to do, but not before cancer took his life, and that of his friend, my husband, diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, for whom standard treatment did not work.
20
Ego, ego, ego prevents many professionals from opening their minds to alternative ways of resolving this nasty, nasty disease....there is much money to be made in cancer care/research and many doctors and researchers who want to have discover the "magic bullet" have put down research that is not theirs so that their reputations can be maintained - same as what happened in the neuroplasticity field...Kuhn's book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" can explain it all perfectly...
5
I would have loved more information on GBM, but thanks for this article! Now, there is not easy for cancer patients to enter on clinical trials or the protocols the patient and the trials follow.
For example, the star (and, I mean it, with TV "60 Minutes" coverage) of all treatments for GBM are the Duke's Polio vaccine. Yet, even if you are "eligible" for this trial, the information provided by this clinical trials is zero regarding what is involved, and how and how fast you can be treated. So, if you are somewhat educated and you don't get any information from the clinical trials that you desperately need,how you want to expect that less educated people look actively to participate or have a chance to participate in clinical trials as the last and only hope they, we, have.
For example, the star (and, I mean it, with TV "60 Minutes" coverage) of all treatments for GBM are the Duke's Polio vaccine. Yet, even if you are "eligible" for this trial, the information provided by this clinical trials is zero regarding what is involved, and how and how fast you can be treated. So, if you are somewhat educated and you don't get any information from the clinical trials that you desperately need,how you want to expect that less educated people look actively to participate or have a chance to participate in clinical trials as the last and only hope they, we, have.
9
This article brings to light the importance of scientific research when it comes to issues like diseases. Usually, our government fails to be proactive about spending on health related issues until it creates a national or international crisis. For example, the United States did not provide major funding for research regarding Ebola and Zika until they became large scale epidemics. Unfortunately, one of the major reasons behind this is that 54% of the Nation’s discretionary spending goes towards the military in comparison to the mere 3% for science. Research is expensive and takes time. Without budget backing, research is being placed on the back burner of national priorities, hence putting millions at risk. If science was given a chance and the government was proactive, we could save lives a lot earlier than we are doing now.
19
It's unfortunate that the politicians lately are targeting high drug prices. These immunotherapies are prime examples of such high prices. But there are two kinds of high prices. One, for example, is when a drug company takes a cheap drug, buys the rights to it, and then charges an extortionate price. But the high prices associated with these new immunotherapies are what funds the research by the cutting edge biotech companies producing them. The revenues don't primarily go into the pockets of rich executives or shareholders, but instead are plowed right back into new efforts to develop drugs that work better than the existing drugs. This is especially important in a breakthrough field like this one. Government funding falls far short of what is needed to move forward. People should understand this and support what these biotech companies are doing, even with the high prices. Biotech is developing revolutionary innovations, based on our rapidly expanding understanding of biology (eg sequencing the human genome), that will bring improvement in the lives of millions of people suffering from many diseases. It will benefit everyone.
14
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2541515 Not everyone thinks that bigshot ideas are returning much to society. And the costs are quite great compared to the return. Shall i also mention the reproducibility crises in medicine- such thatmany existing drugs are based on not just missing data and sponsorship bias but omitted variable bias. Is it no wonder that almost 8% of all drugs are removed from the market every year.
Its unfortunate, that too many Americans lack critical thinking skills when it comes to research and make the rest of society suffer from their "healthy minded bias, "there is no alternative bias and lets finish the job bias. But as the prevaelnce of diabetes, arthritis, neuropathic pain has been on the rise over the 25 years- and yours trul and one other individual called for lowering the prevalence of disease in comments to the NPS, I think those healthy minded folk are not serving the best interests of Americans and see thru a glass darkly.
Its unfortunate, that too many Americans lack critical thinking skills when it comes to research and make the rest of society suffer from their "healthy minded bias, "there is no alternative bias and lets finish the job bias. But as the prevaelnce of diabetes, arthritis, neuropathic pain has been on the rise over the 25 years- and yours trul and one other individual called for lowering the prevalence of disease in comments to the NPS, I think those healthy minded folk are not serving the best interests of Americans and see thru a glass darkly.
2
The authors of your cited article are correct that some of the paradigms of 1999 turned out to be overoptimistic. You seem to deduce from this that all "bigshot ideas", as you refer to them, should be dismissed. But it is incontrovertible that biotech has delivered spectacular successes that have improved the lives of millions of sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis, wet macular degeneration, non-Hodgins lymphoma, and numerous others. The recently developed cure for Hepatitis C is very expensive, but it's impossible to argue that it's not a very useful drug. These successes are consequences of a very fruitful collaboration of academic and biotech industry researchers, and they are fortunately endowed with a fairly respectable capacity for critical thinking. Technology that already exists, developed in recent years, coupled with knowledge that has already been accumulated, is in the process of being converted into therapeutic candidates. To dismiss their promise on the basis of the limited return of more primitive times seems illogical. You might as well dismiss the prospect of practical transistor-based computers because the ones built with vacuum tubes were too big and didn't work very well.
7
Spectacular successes- thats hype- methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis can lead to cancer-and my how they hype up some in remissiion and play down the cancer. As William James put it over a century ago healthy mindedness such as yours ifgnores the deeper aspects of problems.
Critical thinking is lacking in research as is honesty. I guess you are unaware of a reproducibility crises and the fact that even doctors are often unable to interpret research results- and how bout the missing data? The fact is diabetes, osteoarthritis, knee and hip replacements, obesity, neuropathic pain have been rapidly on the rise on the last generation-and who can ignore the costs of care rising and rising premiums.
I dismiss the "promise" of big ideas as did Ioannidis for i have seen the aste from the decade of pain researfch and control, the decade of the brain in the 90s, the 17400 RCTs on opioids- and more controversy as to their effectiveness then ever- not to mention $60 billion in costs annualy for diversion.
The health care industry clearly is terribly asteful and careless when it coes to public monies- there is lack of concern with democratic accountability and getting results for the public. As Ioannidis has pointed out over 85% of research is wasteful-and my guess is he is even more prolific then MIchael.
Critical thinking is lacking in research as is honesty. I guess you are unaware of a reproducibility crises and the fact that even doctors are often unable to interpret research results- and how bout the missing data? The fact is diabetes, osteoarthritis, knee and hip replacements, obesity, neuropathic pain have been rapidly on the rise on the last generation-and who can ignore the costs of care rising and rising premiums.
I dismiss the "promise" of big ideas as did Ioannidis for i have seen the aste from the decade of pain researfch and control, the decade of the brain in the 90s, the 17400 RCTs on opioids- and more controversy as to their effectiveness then ever- not to mention $60 billion in costs annualy for diversion.
The health care industry clearly is terribly asteful and careless when it coes to public monies- there is lack of concern with democratic accountability and getting results for the public. As Ioannidis has pointed out over 85% of research is wasteful-and my guess is he is even more prolific then MIchael.
1
As a daughter of a cancer research scientist, and in remission myself, the take away I get, is go to a major cancer research institute for treatment. As the article mentions, Sloan Kettering and MD Anderson are two of the best! I was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer (twin of ovarian) on the Friday before Labor Day 2014, at 9 am the next morning I entered the emergency room at UCLA, where I was admitted and began testing and a treatment plan was developed. I was not going to wait the week for an appointment with a local oncologist. I went to the best and thankfully, at stage 3, received the best treatment and am now in remission! Whether it's chemo or immune therapy, go to a major research institute for an evaluation and treatment recommendation!
60
You were fortunate to have a connection through your father, it seems .Not everyone can get to Sloan K, etc. easily, rapidly. AND
not everyone has the means either. I'm glad you got good treatment
not everyone has the means either. I'm glad you got good treatment
3
Fellow Vermonter, my dad taught med school at UVM almost fifty years ago! No one knows who he is anymore. I showed up at the emergency room at UCLA and wouldn't leave until they admitted me. What I had was knowledge and a good insurance plan! The first I try to pass on to others as in my note above, the second will only continue if we vote for Hilary Clinton!
How do we properly fund this. $150 K for a year of therapy is just one part of the treatment cost. Realistic people know why our healthcare costs are skyrocketing and no sane person wants to withhold treatment to anyone. The question remains, how do we pay for these new treatments and research?
26
I was diagnosed with stage 4 renal cell carcinoma approximately one year ago. Having first been diagnosed in 2011 with renal cell carcinoma, I had my left kidney removed and all of us reasonably believed I was again cancer-free. With the discovery of a sizable tumor stemming from the left adrenal gland and 14 small tumors on the periphery of my lungs, we were all set to take the usual drug treatments that slow but never stop tumor growth when we opted for a more aggressive plan. Following some extensive and risky surgery on the large one, targeted Cyberknife radiation treatments on the larger active tumor on my lung, my oncologist convinced Bristol Meyer Squib that Opdivo would work so they covered me and I'm now 6 infusions in with little side effects.
As the many doctors I consulted--for the surgery, radiation and oncology--they all agreed that together with the immunotherapy I have a tremendous chance of beating this almost certainly fatal disease. With the fast-track approval of the FDA in late November of last year, I honestly believe I am going to defeat this assault on my Heath and longevity--and when I say "I" I literally mean my own immune system.
What a blessing in the nick of time!
As the many doctors I consulted--for the surgery, radiation and oncology--they all agreed that together with the immunotherapy I have a tremendous chance of beating this almost certainly fatal disease. With the fast-track approval of the FDA in late November of last year, I honestly believe I am going to defeat this assault on my Heath and longevity--and when I say "I" I literally mean my own immune system.
What a blessing in the nick of time!
133
So glad...
A true pioneer in the field of immunotherapy, unmentioned in this article, is Dr. Stephen Rosenberg of the National Cancer Institute at NIH. Before 1984, stage four melanoma was always fatal...there were no known survivors worldwide. But in that year, Dr. Rosenberg experimented with Interlucken II, a therapy he hoped would energize a patient's own T cells to recognize and kill melanoma. More than sixty end of life patients failed to respond until Linda Taylor, who had been discharged from the U S Navy to go home to die of her melanoma found her tumors had disappeared thanks to the treatment. She survived as have many others thanks to Dr. Rosenberg whose research over the years since has produced newer therapies which have saved an increasing number of cancer patients. He is truly the father of modern immunotherapy.
21
My husband died of melanoma two weeks ago. He did not take immunotherapy drugs for several reasons. First, the side effects can be devastating; second, the small number of people in clinical trials who have significantly benefited from them; and third, the cost. He would have had approximately two months of treatment with Yervoy and Opdivo, which after Medicare and our secondary insurance payments would cost about $14,000 per month. This would be followed by Keytruda which would have been higher. We could not qualify for a grant because we owned our home and had savings. These drugs hold great promise, but, until they are within reach of everyone who needs them, too many cancer patients will never benefit from them.
280
Garden Cook...I'm so sorry for your loss.
33
Amen. Victim of misfortune and a financially driven inhumane system...
1
I am sorry for your loss. God bless you.
Chemotherapy has cured some cancers routinely (some testiculars, lymphomas, leukemias) and then some particular ones that qualify as an outlier effect. Staging of the cancer by geography (in situ, local, regional or above/below the diaphragm) and cellular agressiveness enters into the prognosis. Somewhat pejoratively, "chemo" has been characterized as overlapping logarithmic kill, pharmacological Nazism or the fine art of poisoning (actively growing cells take up more poison). Even if curative it may leave one's immune system compromised.
Immunotherapy has the cache of getting the immune system back on track, getting it to do what it should of done in the first place but when the malignancy was just a few cells. Visible tumors are huge in comparison and getting rid of such a large mass of cells is problematic. The carcass of dead cells is a disposal problem for the immune and inflammatory system but also could be an adjuvant that further energizes the immune system. Also a tumor mass may not be a homogeneous population of the same cells, thus some cell escaping certain immune markers that made the therapy work.
The strategy of immune therapy seems more "natural" as opposed to the "over lapping logarithmic kill "of chemotherapy and perhaps will be more successful amongst those 236 or so cancers out there. Cancer is a variety of problems, not just a problem.
Immunotherapy has the cache of getting the immune system back on track, getting it to do what it should of done in the first place but when the malignancy was just a few cells. Visible tumors are huge in comparison and getting rid of such a large mass of cells is problematic. The carcass of dead cells is a disposal problem for the immune and inflammatory system but also could be an adjuvant that further energizes the immune system. Also a tumor mass may not be a homogeneous population of the same cells, thus some cell escaping certain immune markers that made the therapy work.
The strategy of immune therapy seems more "natural" as opposed to the "over lapping logarithmic kill "of chemotherapy and perhaps will be more successful amongst those 236 or so cancers out there. Cancer is a variety of problems, not just a problem.
14
There are some more recent immunotherapies that this article doesn't mention. One of the most exciting is the use of tumour RNA to induce an anti-viral like response to the tumor in the same way our adaptive immune system mounts an immune response to a disease causing virus. Essentially, this is a vaccine, except instead of providing immunity against some viral disease, the anti-viral immune system response targets the tumour RNA as a viral invader, destroying the tumour. Below are 2 papers from the Journal Nature, including the web addresses.
Devries & Figdor. 2016. Cancer vaccine triggers antiviral-type defences. Nature 534: 329–331
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.csun.edu/nature/journal/v534/n7607/full/n...
This is a summary of the paper by Kranz et. al. 2016.
Kranz et al. 2016. Systemic RNA delivery to dendritic cells exploits antiviral defence for cancer immunotherapy. Nature 534:396–401
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.csun.edu/nature/journal/v534/n7607/full/n...
Devries & Figdor. 2016. Cancer vaccine triggers antiviral-type defences. Nature 534: 329–331
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.csun.edu/nature/journal/v534/n7607/full/n...
This is a summary of the paper by Kranz et. al. 2016.
Kranz et al. 2016. Systemic RNA delivery to dendritic cells exploits antiviral defence for cancer immunotherapy. Nature 534:396–401
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.csun.edu/nature/journal/v534/n7607/full/n...
31
Immunotherapy itself is a reductionistic approach and ignores the role of metabolism in cancer. Many Americans are not aware of the connection between metabolism and immune system and how much energy the immune system uses- and anaerobic energy. And the disunity of researchers along with their reductionism leads to erroneous thinking. So immunotherapy or chemotherapy or radiation or hyperthermic treatment is really quite silly as it fetishistic and betrays what has been learned about cancer and disease as a whole. No doubt organizational interest who can see beyond their nose are behind the hype of immunotherapy. athey assume a "curse of knowledge" but really suffer from the Dunning Kruger effect. So to me immunotherapy is more of the same dated uninspiring overconfident hyped up reductionism that has been around for over a century- so what else is new in medical science.
Why don't you tell that to people who should be dead.
Cancer is the byproduct is multicellularity. That is why tumor suppressor systems have evolved independently in multicellular organisms. In fact, many cancers begin because of knockout mutations in tumor suppressor genes like BRCA 1 &2, and the p53 system. Furthermore, cancer is much more common in older people because there is only weak selection after an organism is finished breeding and nothing will improve its fitness.
I'm not sure what your point is about the metabolic costs of an immune system. You seem to have a fetish for complicated sentences composed of big words to lend heft to your argument, whatever that is. Instead, your writing obscures whatever points you are trying to communicate.
Perhaps you think the whole medical establishment is corrupt and is interested solely in the business of making money. There is some truth to that when a drug company can charge highway robbery for cancer drugs that offer only a slim hope of extending survival when all other treatments have failed. That is the problem of treating medicine as a profit making business model instead of first and foremost as a way to keep people healthy for longer. But to dismiss the whole medical establishment as only seeking profit, is myopic and probably ideological on you part. I know too many researchers and physicians who have devoted their whole lives to providing quality medical care.
Cancer is the byproduct is multicellularity. That is why tumor suppressor systems have evolved independently in multicellular organisms. In fact, many cancers begin because of knockout mutations in tumor suppressor genes like BRCA 1 &2, and the p53 system. Furthermore, cancer is much more common in older people because there is only weak selection after an organism is finished breeding and nothing will improve its fitness.
I'm not sure what your point is about the metabolic costs of an immune system. You seem to have a fetish for complicated sentences composed of big words to lend heft to your argument, whatever that is. Instead, your writing obscures whatever points you are trying to communicate.
Perhaps you think the whole medical establishment is corrupt and is interested solely in the business of making money. There is some truth to that when a drug company can charge highway robbery for cancer drugs that offer only a slim hope of extending survival when all other treatments have failed. That is the problem of treating medicine as a profit making business model instead of first and foremost as a way to keep people healthy for longer. But to dismiss the whole medical establishment as only seeking profit, is myopic and probably ideological on you part. I know too many researchers and physicians who have devoted their whole lives to providing quality medical care.
5
Thank you for the information. Kind of you to include the links, but they cannot be accessed without a subscription.
If we can spend trillions in overseas wars, then I think we can find money for basic science and translational research. NIH money should be sacrosanct IMHO.
On another note: I'm honored to work with people who are advancing in this war on cancer.
On another note: I'm honored to work with people who are advancing in this war on cancer.
90
Amen!
For the cost of the Iraq adventure, we could have financed the NIH for 100 years (no kidding, these are the actual numbers).
For the cost of the Iraq adventure, we could have financed the NIH for 100 years (no kidding, these are the actual numbers).
19
It has long been clear, as I know from my own research, that the challenge in cancer is that it's one's own cells. So you want to target that aspect of yourself that is not behaving normally. That is a huge challenge since we have an immune system exceedingly well-tuned specifically not to attack yourself. So identifying the tiny difference between you and your cancer is tricky, but your immune system is designed to do that very sort of thing, if it can but be taught to do so. It's an obviously 'right' way to approach anti-self diseases.
13
Sounds like you may be ignoring the underdetermination of scientific theory. Also its remarkable how researchers assume their science is superior to mother nature. I guess its an ego thing- like the Dunning Kruger effect.
2
Add cracking the genetic code of human aging to the present population bomb and it will probably go critical.
10
But only the rich will be able to afford it.
If they developed checkpoint inhibitors for cancer, why can't they develop checkpoint stimulators for people with autoimmune diseases?
11
You would actually want the opposite since autoimmune diseases are the result of an over reactive immune system. Indeed, the side effects of these checkpoint drugs are autoimmune diseases/symptoms.
Instead of blocking the checkpoint molecules (CTLA-4 and PD-1), you would want to stimulate them which would shut down the immune system.
Instead of blocking the checkpoint molecules (CTLA-4 and PD-1), you would want to stimulate them which would shut down the immune system.
5
It is much simpler to block the active site of a receptor with an antibody (as Opdivo does) than it is to modify the binding sensitivity of an existing protein using an antibody.
Perhaps an alternative is to use a drug that mimics the particular ligand for a checkpoint receptor, but I suspect this would have the same effect as modern immunosuppressive therapies.
Perhaps an alternative is to use a drug that mimics the particular ligand for a checkpoint receptor, but I suspect this would have the same effect as modern immunosuppressive therapies.
3
They're working on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abatacept
The Dr. Bluestone mentioned in the article actually co-discovered CTLA-4 in a search for new therapies for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abatacept
The Dr. Bluestone mentioned in the article actually co-discovered CTLA-4 in a search for new therapies for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.
2
This is our nation's fight - the fight to stay alive! We should rally around this battle as we did in going to the moon or going off to World War II. Let's sell war bonds to champion the lives of the human race.
5
Immunity therapy didn't work for me. I tell myself three things: My condition is hopeless but not serious; there are many illnesses but only one health; cancer/schmancer--a begazint.
5
We are closer than ever to the sweet spot of effective treatments. Please do not give up.
6
Good news for finally figuring out a better way to kill cancer cells. Big pharma can still make lots of money and be happy but people don't have to look at cancer as a death sentence. Can you imagine how quickly we could kill cancer if we took some of the money from the big financial institutes, big pharma and the mega rich to put into cancer cure research. If the universities and hospitals cooperated it would even be quicker. Perhaps if our country goes in a progressive direction this will happen.
15
'big pharma' still needs to be involved, if only for the oversight and educated minds present. Or would you rather flip a coin and have snake oil salesmen be in charge of patenting medications?
Funny, John D. Rockefeller, the father of the modern allopathic medicine-drug cartel, was the literally the son of a snake-oil salesman. Think about that for awhile.
3
Wonderful story on a significant medical advancement. May we all live longer and enjoy quality of life.
I just hope the insurance companies will feel the same way; I have my doubts.
I just hope the insurance companies will feel the same way; I have my doubts.
9
"One theory is that additional checkpoints, not yet discovered, may play a role. The hunt is on to find them, and then make new drugs to act on them."
Significant progress has been made in this area. For example, one small company, Compugen, has discovered 11 novel checkpoints. Drugs targeting two of these novel checkpoints will likely enter clinical trials in 2017. So, the percentage of cancer patients responding to immunotherapy should grow in the coming years.
Significant progress has been made in this area. For example, one small company, Compugen, has discovered 11 novel checkpoints. Drugs targeting two of these novel checkpoints will likely enter clinical trials in 2017. So, the percentage of cancer patients responding to immunotherapy should grow in the coming years.
12
There is more to fighting cancver then the immune system. This article, and the cancer industry, has long ignored the role of metabolism in cancer. Most people who die of cancer- die of starvation- for the cancer uses the nutrition of the body.
And so like most "medical science", this approach to cancer is very reductionistic and misses the mark for too many with cancer- So what else is new in the biopolitics of the cancer industry.
And so like most "medical science", this approach to cancer is very reductionistic and misses the mark for too many with cancer- So what else is new in the biopolitics of the cancer industry.
5
It has been called as the author Siddhartha Mukerjee's book title says "The Emperor of All Maladies." It is, it seems, so. When I think about cancer what comes to mind is the double helix genome and the mapping of human DNA. I am not in this field nor a medical person in any other field of science but I have thought for so long as so many dear to me have succumbed to the disease that an understanding of DNA and an unraveling and mapping of the genome of the billions of cells that compose a human being must be the key. When cancer occurs to muck up the normal functioning of a cell, what letter(s) of that genome mutate to ensure the initiation and progression of cancer? While targeting one's immune system to capture cancer seems ideal to me targeting the causal of cancer itself, the mutated gene(s), and treating that through reparative genetic therapy would be the key.
2
"must be the key"- No doubt certaintistic thinking in science has lead to false hopes before. And as the philosphers say reality is not neccessary it is contingent. The microbiome, environment, diet,etc-obvious influences on cancer. Remarkable how the scientific community is much more focused on looking for treatemtns for cancer in biochemical form then helping to address cancer in toto.
1
That's what we all thought ( I'm a cancer researcher of 30 yrs). Alas it wasn't true except for a tiny number of cancers. Immunotherapy is the first real 'miracle'. Targeted has been a big disappointment. And hugely over hyped.
2
Its typical of researchers to talk of miracles and hype things up beyond reason. Dr Collins goofed in 2000 when he told us the miracle of mapping the human genome would in ten years lead to all kinds of new treatments for disease- in 2010 he said it might take another ten years. In 1992 Dr Lewis Judd hyped up the decade of the brain-"We will largely conquer mental illness by the year 2000"
As Dewey said experts have a false sense of familiarity, independence and completion. The new hype about immunotherapies are no different then the old hype- they will add to the trust deficit between the public and so called experts.
As Dewey said experts have a false sense of familiarity, independence and completion. The new hype about immunotherapies are no different then the old hype- they will add to the trust deficit between the public and so called experts.
Whether it was Nixon's war on cancer or President Obama's recent moonshot program, cancer continues to win. I hate to be negative, but have read these types of stories about the next big breakthrough for close to thirty years. Sadly, I, along with countless others, continue to lose family and friends to this horrible group of diseases known as cancer.
When my bus approaches the midtown tunnel each morning, I see a big billboard for NYU proclaiming that cancer can be cured in our lifetime. I hope I live to see it.
When my bus approaches the midtown tunnel each morning, I see a big billboard for NYU proclaiming that cancer can be cured in our lifetime. I hope I live to see it.
6
There is some research going on in Germany and some academic medical centers in the U.S. about the benefits of high temperatures in fighting cancer. I think the research I saw was mostly in breast cancer. Basically, they bring the body temperature up to pretty high (under supervision, and with lots of water), and the high temps both kill off some cancer cells (because apparently cancer cells are more vulnerable to heat than normal cells) and also somehow rev up the immune system. There's some reason to believe that infrared saunas might have some of these effects, even if they don't get temps quite as high as they do in these medical settings. If you go looking for info on this, the search term to use is "hyperthermia."
3
I would bet that those who are "anti-climate change" would be the first to sign up for treatment for cancer to save their own lives. Thankfully, there are passionate scientists and researchers who work tirelessly for cures and hope to beat cancer. I have survived ovarian cancer for 5 years and am vigilant about being informed of any new treatments "just in case" cancer were to come knocking on my door again.
Let's hope that the right individuals stay in office and that the upcoming election provides us with continued sane governance to support ongoing research. Cancer is a part of climate change.
Let's hope that the right individuals stay in office and that the upcoming election provides us with continued sane governance to support ongoing research. Cancer is a part of climate change.
11
Eventually, some form of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy is likely to be part of the treatment plan for most cancer types. At a cost of >$100,000 per patient, and in light of the expected increase in cancer prevalence as the baby boomers age, in order to make that possible we as a society will need to: 1) increase everyone's insurance premiums substantially, 2) ignore the problem and wait for our current medical system to collapse, 3) force those who set prices for these medications to bring down the costs to a sustainable level. One of the three will likely need happen during the next president's term. I hope that the issue of prescription drug costs (particularly cancer medications) will be addressed during our upcoming presidential debates.
11
My best cousin died of brain cancer at 65 this year, just when he retired, 2 weeks after is birthday, and 2 months before his daughter's wedding. Was an athlete his entire life during 35 (!) summer vacations on the Atlantic City Beach Patrol (100s of rescues by Steel Pier.) It brought back angst from when my aunt retired from Bell Tel management after 25 years to become director of Communications at Atlantic City's first casino (Resorts). Died of brain cancer at 50, and a very pretty woman which makes it harder to digest.
I was misdiagnosed in 2001 with spinal stenosis after becoming paralyzed from the waist down over an 8-week period, and underwent anterior cervical fusion ($50,000) when it was really a malignant tumor on my spine. I was never given an MRI. 6 weeks later, after 2 weeks of hospital and 4 weeks as an outpatient in a wheelchair, the "biggest tumor I've ever seen on someone's spine" as the Stanford neurologist said showed my cancer was Stage IV. Oh well. Silver lining: at 52 I went on full disability and never sweated another Layoff in Silicon Valley. Now I'm 65.
Helpful hint: I've been smoking pot/hash since 1968; in 1996 it became medically legal here. In 1999 I got a scrip ("oh, my aching back!") and by 2002 when I underwent 18 weeks of chemo (Retuxin) I did not get sick once, or so much as a headache, inoculated by the THC, or some guardian angel. Likely it was the THC since so much of my wastrel youth was unangelic. Chemo patients take note.
I was misdiagnosed in 2001 with spinal stenosis after becoming paralyzed from the waist down over an 8-week period, and underwent anterior cervical fusion ($50,000) when it was really a malignant tumor on my spine. I was never given an MRI. 6 weeks later, after 2 weeks of hospital and 4 weeks as an outpatient in a wheelchair, the "biggest tumor I've ever seen on someone's spine" as the Stanford neurologist said showed my cancer was Stage IV. Oh well. Silver lining: at 52 I went on full disability and never sweated another Layoff in Silicon Valley. Now I'm 65.
Helpful hint: I've been smoking pot/hash since 1968; in 1996 it became medically legal here. In 1999 I got a scrip ("oh, my aching back!") and by 2002 when I underwent 18 weeks of chemo (Retuxin) I did not get sick once, or so much as a headache, inoculated by the THC, or some guardian angel. Likely it was the THC since so much of my wastrel youth was unangelic. Chemo patients take note.
19
I am forever grateful for immune therapy as a treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Combined with traditional, aggressive chemotherapy, my tumors were, as my surgeon said "mush" and undetectable when he went to remove them. Yes, it's expensive - the cost for 1-year of this treatment alone is approx. $130,00. I have one more infusion to go then 5 years of daily medication. The only side effect that is more than a occasional annoyance is the sometimes unbearable bone pain. But I'm grateful to be alive and well.
69
If it's due to Neupogen, try Claritin 10 mg daily. Google it if you haven't tried it. Mechanism of its improbable benefit is mysterious.
I take immunosuppressant drugs for MS, my question is could this work on MS? I would be happy to be the first in a clinical trial.
2
Drugs for MS suppress the immune system, but immunotherapy for cancer activates it, so they do opposite things. That said, there are very promising new drugs on the horizon for MS:
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/UCSF-researcher-unveils-promising-n...
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/UCSF-researcher-unveils-promising-n...
4
Pete the drug you linked they say is great, but I am not alloowed in the trial as I have had the disease for over 10 years. Makes it feel like decks are stacked so the drug looks better than it is and won't help us who are "too far gone". MS is a disease that it too profitable for a cure, money is spent retesting same ole drugs instead of new reaserch to find a cause and cure. I learn more about MS on the stock market and biz page than from the medical field.
I would recommend you go to drmcdougall.com - they have had success against MS and cancer with a Whole-foods, plant-based diet. Also the book "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell.
Zero mention of the connection of glucose and cancer. Why is that? Modern medicine still has a visceral disdain for the so-called "home remedies."
Strengthening the immune system is what good nutrition is all about. Taking insulin shots while torturing the body with junk food only creates a battle inside the body that will only kill the host.
Modern medicine's remedy comes out of a pill bottle. Never mind the root cause. Never mind that there are proven methods to first strengthen the immune system with good nutrition, and then everything follows from that.
Doctors hold up the Hippocratic Oath as gospel, as well they should. Then why don't they adopt the central belief from Hippocrates that made up the body of his work: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
We have had the wool pulled completely over our eyes by Big Pharma. We have lost valuable wisdom from the past to our never ending detriment.
Strengthening the immune system is what good nutrition is all about. Taking insulin shots while torturing the body with junk food only creates a battle inside the body that will only kill the host.
Modern medicine's remedy comes out of a pill bottle. Never mind the root cause. Never mind that there are proven methods to first strengthen the immune system with good nutrition, and then everything follows from that.
Doctors hold up the Hippocratic Oath as gospel, as well they should. Then why don't they adopt the central belief from Hippocrates that made up the body of his work: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
We have had the wool pulled completely over our eyes by Big Pharma. We have lost valuable wisdom from the past to our never ending detriment.
14
Thanks for your utterly predictable, uplifting contribution--I could cut and paste comments like this from any article on progress in cancer treatment--to a story of people with terminal cancer whose lives have been saved.
3
Good news! If we could stop giving away gratuitous tax cuts for those people who don't need them (the 1%), we could afford research to save lives.
21
The take home lesson is : Fund basic research. Without an understanding of underlying cellular mechanisms, which may not have an immediate, obvious connection to disease, there will be no progress in medicine.
250
Unfortunately, there are fewer than a handful of scientists or physicians with a basic understanding of science in Congress.
We are de facto governed by the least common denominator.
And if Trump gets elected, that denominator will drop again.
We are de facto governed by the least common denominator.
And if Trump gets elected, that denominator will drop again.
10
LOL- Wishful thinking at best. Lets just throw money at researchers- maybe in a million studies a light will shine through- maybe not.
I am surprised the article does not mention a trusted treatment for carcinoma in situ of the bladder. In this treatment the patient bladder is filled with the bacillus calmette guerin BCG that stimulates the immune system to attack the cancer.
3
One of my closest friends was diagnosed last year with glioblastoma multiforme, a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer. After surgery, chemo and radiation therapy, he was included in a research study involving the use of his tumor cells to create a vaccine to be used as a modality to teach his immune system to recognize and attack any cancer cells that remain or return. He did have a reoccurrence of the tumor. After further chemo and the use of the vaccine, he is currently cancer free. He will have to be continually monitored, but what a tremendous breakthrough.
12
autohemotherapy ight have done the same thing- and at a much cheaper price.
What hospital/center was this at?
With all due respect, I'm not sure why Mr Cara expected to 'sail through' his medical tests, if that was indeed the case as the article claims. For a start, he's in his fifties when even the healthiest of us typically start to develop medical problems, even those of us who are super fit and eat supposedly all the right foods etc. Further, from the photo, it's apparent that this patient has a substantial 'spare tyre' of adipose tissue around his abdomen. Last, did he smoke when he was younger? The article doesn't tell us.
From the 'Lung cancer - non-small cell' page at MedlinePlus:
'Smoking causes most cases (around 90%) of lung cancer. The risk depends on the number of cigarettes you smoke each day and for how long you have smoked. Being around the smoke from other people (secondhand smoke) also raises your risk of lung cancer. But some people who have never smoked do develop lung cancer.'
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007194.htm
From the 'Lung cancer - non-small cell' page at MedlinePlus:
'Smoking causes most cases (around 90%) of lung cancer. The risk depends on the number of cigarettes you smoke each day and for how long you have smoked. Being around the smoke from other people (secondhand smoke) also raises your risk of lung cancer. But some people who have never smoked do develop lung cancer.'
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007194.htm
6
My wife's article in the Los Angeles Times concerning the success, so far, of immunotherapy and another clinical trial. It's a seesaw between hope for the future and the hard truths of cancer, but every day is a good day. http://lat.ms/2a9hqIZ
4
"His own work is well funded, he said, but he worries about an overall trend to shortchange basic science."
Dr Allison made his ground breaking discovery at UC Berkeley and almost certainly, the vast majority of the research dollars came from public funds, as with most breakthrough treatments.
But today we have a pharmaceutical ecology where public money pays for the research and drug companies harvest all of the extraordinary financial benefits. Hep C Solvaldi is a great example.
So you and I get to pay twice, once for the research and again for the drugs, through elevated insurance premiums, while basic research remains underfunded.
Until some kind of patent or royalty system is instituted to replenish public basic research funds, the really ground breaking therapies will be delayed, as in the case of Dr Cole's 19th century immunological discoveries.
Dr Allison made his ground breaking discovery at UC Berkeley and almost certainly, the vast majority of the research dollars came from public funds, as with most breakthrough treatments.
But today we have a pharmaceutical ecology where public money pays for the research and drug companies harvest all of the extraordinary financial benefits. Hep C Solvaldi is a great example.
So you and I get to pay twice, once for the research and again for the drugs, through elevated insurance premiums, while basic research remains underfunded.
Until some kind of patent or royalty system is instituted to replenish public basic research funds, the really ground breaking therapies will be delayed, as in the case of Dr Cole's 19th century immunological discoveries.
51
Getting closer.
I maintain high doses of vitamin supplements throughout the year as a means of having my immune system on the ready at all times.
I have a naturally terrible immune system, and am/was prone to many types of illnesses, gastritis, seasonal flu, arthritic ailments (I'm 45), but I started boosting my immune system several years ago, resulting in diminishing incidence of getting ill.
Whether it's mind over matter, I for one will continue to load up on vitamins until I am disproved.
I maintain high doses of vitamin supplements throughout the year as a means of having my immune system on the ready at all times.
I have a naturally terrible immune system, and am/was prone to many types of illnesses, gastritis, seasonal flu, arthritic ailments (I'm 45), but I started boosting my immune system several years ago, resulting in diminishing incidence of getting ill.
Whether it's mind over matter, I for one will continue to load up on vitamins until I am disproved.
1
Most arthritis is caused by our own immune system attacking the linings of our joints and causing them to become inflamed. So, that would suggest your immune system is overactive not underactive. Given that you also think that supplementing with vitamins is a good thing, when there's very little evidence to support this, you probably need to learn more about how the human immune system works.
4
One important reason for a tumor not to respond to immunotherapy or to recur after a dramatic initial response is the diversity among cancer cells within a tumor. By the time a tumor is large enough to be found, a single initial cancer cell has spawned a billion or more cells by repeated divisions into two cells many times over many years. If a mutation develops in just one of the cells after a division, then the progeny of those two cells will continue to evolve as related but distinct cancers, subclones of the initial cancer cell, in the tumor. If a subclone has a mutation that provides resistance to some type of therapy, then that resistant subclone may continue to grow after therapy even if most of the tumor responds. The diversity of cancer cells within tumors is a well-known reason for failures of the "targeted" cancer therapies that generated so much excitement a decade ago. Recent studies show that this diversity may also limit responses to immunotherapy. Mutations shared among all cancer cells seem to be the best targets for immunotherapy; subclones with mutations in antigen-presentation processes can lead to recurrence after a dramatic response:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26940869
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27433843
Immunotherapy provides a superb new tool for cancer therapy, but we cannot "eliminate cancer as we know it," as the new Moonshot seeks to do, until the challenges of tumor diversity are met.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26940869
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27433843
Immunotherapy provides a superb new tool for cancer therapy, but we cannot "eliminate cancer as we know it," as the new Moonshot seeks to do, until the challenges of tumor diversity are met.
12
I cannot imagine how most patients could navigate the world of immunotherapy for cancer. The doctors and researchers themselves are struggling to understand the incredibly complex immune response mechanisms affected by genetic and physiological factors.
I think this article points to the inevitability of highly individualized treatment plans for advanced cancer based on numerous factors. The cost of such treatments will be staggering, making early detection extremely important.
I think this article points to the inevitability of highly individualized treatment plans for advanced cancer based on numerous factors. The cost of such treatments will be staggering, making early detection extremely important.
4
My mother has been on Immunotherapy for over a year now. It has been a true miracle to see her improve so much. God bless this discovery.
17
Thanks to all researchers, doctors, nurses,techs,professors and courageous patient families for your hard work. And thanks to all the fund raisers and folks who are trying everyday to beat these cancer diseases.
20
Interesting report. One thing that wasn't discussed though was the effect these new drugs will have on our health care costs as they move out of clinical trials. If the pharmaceutical companies are able to charge sky high prices for long term treatment of patients who otherwise would not survive, it could bankrupt the system. It becomes even more imperative that the US put controls on the cost of drugs as most other countries do.
43
This is obviously a great advancement in cancer treatment. kudos to the researchers and there amazing skills.
Chemo and radiation are extremely difficult for patients to endure. my only concern is why a 90 year old ex president got access to this treatment, but many others are not offered the trial opportunity?
is this another example of only the well connected get access to special treatment? if it is, which is what I suspect, just be honest about it.
Chemo and radiation are extremely difficult for patients to endure. my only concern is why a 90 year old ex president got access to this treatment, but many others are not offered the trial opportunity?
is this another example of only the well connected get access to special treatment? if it is, which is what I suspect, just be honest about it.
8
Chemo and radiation are extremely difficult for patients to endure
---------------
Not for me. Radiation was simple: 20 seconds each side, a slight sunburn the first time. Chemo is another story, tho 18 weeks of Retuxin for me did not cause so much as a headache, despite dire warnings from the nurses. An anomaly.
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Not for me. Radiation was simple: 20 seconds each side, a slight sunburn the first time. Chemo is another story, tho 18 weeks of Retuxin for me did not cause so much as a headache, despite dire warnings from the nurses. An anomaly.
I'm not sure why you seem to believe President Carter received special consideration. His condition (metastatic melanoma of the liver and brain) was reportedly treated with surgery and then with an FDA approved immunotherapy drug called Keytruda. This was not a clinical trial situation, simply an informed oncologist using available tools. I've been under treatment for 15 months and have yet to see treatment bias based on ability to pay. In fact, prior to starting my treatments with Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb called me to provide information on four possible funding sources in the event I might financial assistance. I was totally surprised by this exceptionally proactive effort on the part of a pharmaceutical company to help me personally. No....your belief that you must be 'well connected' to receive this kind of life extending treatment is completely unfounded.
2
Denise Grady did a marvelous job. She always does.
15
Many congratulations to those successful patients who have given themselves bravely to these clinical trials and are enjoying extended and healthy lives at this point. Wonderful news! However, only took 4 paragraphs before the first mention of the billions of dollars involved. This is a wonderful medical breakthrough, no doubt, but without price control on the part of the pharma industry, these miracle drugs will be unaffordable to many. The altruism with which these breakthroughs are developed by the brilliant research minds and tested by the thoughtful clinical minds seems to stop at the doorway into the Executive Offices of these drug companies. $150K a year for one drug the article mentioned? Most people cannot get basic medical care without ridiculously high deductibles. How is the average patient to afford what insurance companies surely won't wish to pay out?
28
In most, but not all, clinical trials the cost is borne by the hospital. The doctors have usually spurned lucrative private practices to pursue this research. no study is begun without passing an ethics committee composed not only of doctors but other disciplines as well and no trial is contemplated unless the answer sought is not known or a clearly better known treatment is available. Funding for the hospitals? The Rockefeller Institute, the new Koch Cancer Center arising across the street from Memorial-Sloan-Kettering and other philanthropic entities.
Without pharmaceutical companies fronting hundreds of million dollars, these wonder drugs would never be available for any patient in the first place.
I'd be very interested to know what options are for people with pre-existing autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Is there any possibility to use these treatments for them? Can the treatment eventually be modified to help them too, without unleashing a full-on onslaught of other diseases?
13
this progress in cancer care shows the value of science based medicine. this should be contrasted with naturopaths and other practitioners of alternative therapy which lack all physiological basis and cause patients to delay real care (i.e. steve jobs, RIP)
11
Keep commenting Dave! Every time you comment I get a little more explanatory bias and personality echo and I am truly interested in your background on this subject. Please, more more more!
2
Background- thats genetic fallacy. Try discussing the merits of my statements. MY guess is yur certaintist framework makes it difficult to consider ideas that youre not familiar with- or that your epistemic community is nt familiar with. But lets have some assertion and rejoinder- i think my dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and basomedial amygdala are methylated enough for that.
In my opinion, 'nascent' is the word to describe immunotherapy. The give-and-take is incredible complex making Heidelberg's principle child play
2
Marvelous what science can do. Of course there is much still to be done. The question of why a treatment works for some and not for others is intriguing and certainly must be resolved. Cost and access are also issues of concern. The article indicates that it is somewhat of a mystery why African-Americans are less likely to be receiving cutting edge treatment. Is it really? Many people of color have less access to the best medical care; many also do not have the funds to travel to the best centers; others are distrustful of the medical establishment.
Beyond all that there is certainly a huge element of luck in life. Even for those who get treatment, some have much better outcomes than others. Some folks were born too soon. When my grandfather died of colon cancer in 1961, there were no colonoscopies for early detection. I was a kid and don't know what treatment he had, but I'm betting it was pretty primitive and brutal chemo...
Beyond all that there is certainly a huge element of luck in life. Even for those who get treatment, some have much better outcomes than others. Some folks were born too soon. When my grandfather died of colon cancer in 1961, there were no colonoscopies for early detection. I was a kid and don't know what treatment he had, but I'm betting it was pretty primitive and brutal chemo...
16
This is a perfect example of why research and development should be heavily subsidized. Science quite literally saves lives!
185
Research only saves the richest. The drug companies buy cures from universities, then increase price by 1000%. So the cure is there, but unless you mortgage all your belongings, you die.
5
A perfect example of everything wrong when reaction is first and primary prevention is last.
Some of us are old enough to remember when Nixon started his war on disease; in particular Heart, Lung, Cancer and Stroke. If memory is correct, that was about 1972-4 or expressed another way-almost 50 years ago.
Every few years, another miracle concept led to another possible, maybe could be breakthrough. All during those years one real possible, maybe, could be idea after another went through the grinder of wasted funding.
But what else could we do?
Well, there are a few simple things that could have and should have been done. Here is a simple example which is showing results but had to challenge the myths of free choice and free enterprise: use of tobacco products. The cigarette industry history is well known so a recap is not necessary. Suffice to say that there is a real and high correlation between smoking and lung cancer and a slew of other diseases. Reducing tobacco use reduces rates of cancer. Trying to cure lung cancer to date has been a failure.
While there have been clear improvements in heart disease especially stroke, the results are still a failure because almost all heart and stroke cases are avoidable. And like the situation with tobacco, the food industry raised false issues of free choice and free enterprise to defend the wholesale murder of people by producing foods grown with unhealthy fertilizers and insecticides.
To military-industrial complex-medical.
Some of us are old enough to remember when Nixon started his war on disease; in particular Heart, Lung, Cancer and Stroke. If memory is correct, that was about 1972-4 or expressed another way-almost 50 years ago.
Every few years, another miracle concept led to another possible, maybe could be breakthrough. All during those years one real possible, maybe, could be idea after another went through the grinder of wasted funding.
But what else could we do?
Well, there are a few simple things that could have and should have been done. Here is a simple example which is showing results but had to challenge the myths of free choice and free enterprise: use of tobacco products. The cigarette industry history is well known so a recap is not necessary. Suffice to say that there is a real and high correlation between smoking and lung cancer and a slew of other diseases. Reducing tobacco use reduces rates of cancer. Trying to cure lung cancer to date has been a failure.
While there have been clear improvements in heart disease especially stroke, the results are still a failure because almost all heart and stroke cases are avoidable. And like the situation with tobacco, the food industry raised false issues of free choice and free enterprise to defend the wholesale murder of people by producing foods grown with unhealthy fertilizers and insecticides.
To military-industrial complex-medical.
5
My wife died recently from NSC lung cancer...never smoked, nor did I (people assume that those with lung cancer must have smoked).
She went through lung resection, chemo and radiation, but, nothing stopped the progression. So, the oncologist tried Optivo, but, side effects were debilitating, and my wife chose to stop all treatment (some people said that she "gave up!").
As the article points out, there are no guarantees, only statistics and probabilities. In the final analysis, the decisions about treatment are about as intensely personal as a person can make. I cried when Jan said that she had had enough, but, I didn't try to dissuade her. I saw the terrible toll that the cancer and the treatments had had on her.
yet, these 'experiments" must go on. Those who die are almost like martyrs to the cause. They try as best they can, and, when they've had enough, it'd ok to let go. But, knowledge has been gained, as it is from those who survive for longer periods.
My thanks to the researchers and to Jan's team of doctors who tried to keep her alive for a bit longer.
She went through lung resection, chemo and radiation, but, nothing stopped the progression. So, the oncologist tried Optivo, but, side effects were debilitating, and my wife chose to stop all treatment (some people said that she "gave up!").
As the article points out, there are no guarantees, only statistics and probabilities. In the final analysis, the decisions about treatment are about as intensely personal as a person can make. I cried when Jan said that she had had enough, but, I didn't try to dissuade her. I saw the terrible toll that the cancer and the treatments had had on her.
yet, these 'experiments" must go on. Those who die are almost like martyrs to the cause. They try as best they can, and, when they've had enough, it'd ok to let go. But, knowledge has been gained, as it is from those who survive for longer periods.
My thanks to the researchers and to Jan's team of doctors who tried to keep her alive for a bit longer.
324
My father was a pharmacist, V.P Training at Eli Lilly headquarters taught me government funds most research that Corp drug companies reap the profits even when he was a Republican.
Medicine should never be profit motivated! The human body can heal if the mind and body work "Together" but mental mind medical care has not still received parity funding by any medical insurance.
My mother died at 65 because the lung cancer moved down to liver thus she would be dead at six months.
Our oncologist overdosed my mother with morphine in 1983. Compassionate killing of terminal illnesses been performed with consent of families since '50's.
I will have my organs donated that will kill me if I cannot have quality of health to function as a teacher.
My death may allow another human live longer and better for improving community of the world.
Medicine should never be profit motivated! The human body can heal if the mind and body work "Together" but mental mind medical care has not still received parity funding by any medical insurance.
My mother died at 65 because the lung cancer moved down to liver thus she would be dead at six months.
Our oncologist overdosed my mother with morphine in 1983. Compassionate killing of terminal illnesses been performed with consent of families since '50's.
I will have my organs donated that will kill me if I cannot have quality of health to function as a teacher.
My death may allow another human live longer and better for improving community of the world.
Patrick, I'm so sorry about the loss of your wife. Decades ago, a young colleague of mine died of lung cancer, leaving behind a husband and infant son -- and she never smoked, either. Smoking increases the risk of getting lung cancer, but sadly, the risk doesn't go to zero in non-smokers. And I am also sorry for the terribly stupid things that people say -- especially about "giving up" on the "fight." Both my husband and I have lost family members to cancer, and we each have been diagnosed with cancer ourselves, and we both hope we never have to suffer such ignorant and insensitive comments totally lacking any understanding or even simple empathy.
9
My wife's brother had the same problem: a fungal infection that killed him at Cleveland Clinic after 10 days, age 58. Something akin to Hantavirus. He'd stopped smoking many years ago. Indeed, he was an engineer (Penn, '74) in a big Columbus OH hospital, and lived healthily.
This is what is possible when we pursue and fund science and scientific research. Congress needs to stop its assault of the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation and not only fund them back to previous levels but make a sustained and concerted effort to increase funding far beyond what is currently in place.
True advances only come from publicly funded projects and not from the private sector. We have seen what happens when, left to their own devices, pharmaceutical companies stop researching and developing the next generations of antibiotics. They make decisions based on profits and not on the fact that microorganisms evolve at an astonishing rate.
Congress also needs to maintain and expand on affordable care so that all people have access to the treatments that this research develops.
In the election cycle the politicians are talking about creating jobs in manufacturing, but really, do we want to bring back industries that destroy our environment and poison our land and our water or do we want to invest in programs that will retrain existing working age adults and educate young students in STEM and make America the economy of science and advancement. Not everyone needs to become a Doctor or researcher, there are plenty of technical and support jobs that would need to be filled if we made an effort to expand our leadership in industrial science and medicine through public investment in these endeavors and in the training to fill these roles.
True advances only come from publicly funded projects and not from the private sector. We have seen what happens when, left to their own devices, pharmaceutical companies stop researching and developing the next generations of antibiotics. They make decisions based on profits and not on the fact that microorganisms evolve at an astonishing rate.
Congress also needs to maintain and expand on affordable care so that all people have access to the treatments that this research develops.
In the election cycle the politicians are talking about creating jobs in manufacturing, but really, do we want to bring back industries that destroy our environment and poison our land and our water or do we want to invest in programs that will retrain existing working age adults and educate young students in STEM and make America the economy of science and advancement. Not everyone needs to become a Doctor or researcher, there are plenty of technical and support jobs that would need to be filled if we made an effort to expand our leadership in industrial science and medicine through public investment in these endeavors and in the training to fill these roles.
251
You are on the best path for jobs and a future for some who thought it wiuld not be possible. It would be perfect it our insurers would cover it.
The private sector is responsible for many of the medical breakthroughs despite what this person states. Profit isn't necessarily evil nor should it be the only motivation.
4
Very nice thought, but to achieve what you suggest requires a nation willing to tax itself to pay for such funding and leaders in government with sufficiently enlightened priorities and the courage to go with it to make the funding happen. We are simply too selfish and greedy for that kind of enlightenment. I am surprised we have achieved anything at all, and am relatively certain that my fellow Americans are more likely to decrease funding than increase it. Articles like this are so incredibly uplifting but at the same time so tantalizingly frustrating. You have to get cancer or have your wife get it before you are willing to make any sacrifices that might curb this scourge.
4
Amazing progress in the fight against cancer. Perhaps of equal importance is the tie to basic research. As a technology transfer professional at a top research university we can use more success stories like this one to help in educating the public on the continued need to support basic research.
66
I remember back in the late 90's I developed some nasty and very persistent warts on my left foot. After trying the DIY methods, I sought professional help.
When I went to the dermatologist, he told me that freezing these particular types of warts wasn't going to produce a good result for me. Instead, he recommended an obscure and largely-forgotten treatment the USSR (pioneers of LASIK) had been tinkering with but never finished because of the crises of the 70's and 80's that ultimately killed the empire.
The treatment involved getting my immune system to regard a certain compound as a threat, applied topically. After a couple weeks of "training" my immune system, he applied the triggering compound to the colonies on my foot.
Within two weeks, the warts that had been ensconced for years were gone like dust in the wind. In his words "There is very little that's an even match for the immune system in a stand-up fight. Diseases usually have to win by trickery."
The immune system is an incredible built-in tool that medical science is only just beginning to understand how to communicate with. Until now, we have only been able to offer help in killing infections, almost like trying to do something with someone without a language in common.
Now we are finally, haltingly, speaking the language of the immune system in the fight against cancer.
Great article.
When I went to the dermatologist, he told me that freezing these particular types of warts wasn't going to produce a good result for me. Instead, he recommended an obscure and largely-forgotten treatment the USSR (pioneers of LASIK) had been tinkering with but never finished because of the crises of the 70's and 80's that ultimately killed the empire.
The treatment involved getting my immune system to regard a certain compound as a threat, applied topically. After a couple weeks of "training" my immune system, he applied the triggering compound to the colonies on my foot.
Within two weeks, the warts that had been ensconced for years were gone like dust in the wind. In his words "There is very little that's an even match for the immune system in a stand-up fight. Diseases usually have to win by trickery."
The immune system is an incredible built-in tool that medical science is only just beginning to understand how to communicate with. Until now, we have only been able to offer help in killing infections, almost like trying to do something with someone without a language in common.
Now we are finally, haltingly, speaking the language of the immune system in the fight against cancer.
Great article.
217
I've had luck getting rid of plantars warts with oregano oil. From what I read about how it works, the oil erodes some kind of protein the warts make that makes them invisible to your immune system, and then the immune system takes care of them. The dermatologist I saw said he hadn't heard of this remedy per se, but he knew the protein I was talking about (he knew the name of it; I didn't) and said that if, indeed, the oil eroded that, it should work.
1
Sounds like the duct tape treatment for warts. the tape creates an irritation to the skin that our immune system then noticed and attacks.
Neither patients nor doctors have problems seeing warts. It is hard to detect cancer and detection is often too late for the immune system to succeed with a fair chance.
Thank you for the brilliant doctors, scientists and all who have contributed their valuable time and efforts to help eradicate this horrible disease that takes the lives in all age groups, genders , etnicities and just humanity as a whole. Immunotherapy and stem cell research are the new frontier. Please don't allow politics and religious beliefs to stop these amazing advances. Every one has a right to a cure.
64
Hummmm... Most interesting. ' “I’m very fortunate,” Mr. Wight said. “It has for me a single irritating side effect. It makes me itch like you wouldn’t believe. I itch all the time but it’s a small price to pay to stay alive and be feeling pretty well.” '
This is the first link I have seen between itching and cancer.
This is the first link I have seen between itching and cancer.
5
The itch was due to the immune response he was having, not the cancer itself. The immune response causes inflammation, and like with an allergy, inflammation can be experienced as the sensation of itchiness.
2
My mother developed hives after starting this program. Itching is better than dead.
1
The itching seems to be caused by the drug, not the cancer.
2
A cousin of ours has seen 18 months of good results from Keytruda for melanoma. Her niece helped develop it, and we all are thrilled. Fingers crossed for this type of treatment. <3
49
What an exciting and uplifting article!
I love science and am so grateful I was able to study one in college.
To me, science (the Scientific Method) is the closest thing we have to God whispering in our ears, telling us the truth.
From the awe-inspiring Periodic Table of the Elements to the physics miracle of the moon landings to vaccines, antibiotics and immunotherapy, the study and funding of the sciences has given us so, so much.
I did not think I could be a research scientist, but I am a science teacher. I try every day to boost up the next generation of chemists, biologists, geologists and physicists. Maybe I will have a little Jim Allison in my class this year!
Best wishes to these patients who are themselves science pioneers and to the scientists who are driven to cure.
I love science and am so grateful I was able to study one in college.
To me, science (the Scientific Method) is the closest thing we have to God whispering in our ears, telling us the truth.
From the awe-inspiring Periodic Table of the Elements to the physics miracle of the moon landings to vaccines, antibiotics and immunotherapy, the study and funding of the sciences has given us so, so much.
I did not think I could be a research scientist, but I am a science teacher. I try every day to boost up the next generation of chemists, biologists, geologists and physicists. Maybe I will have a little Jim Allison in my class this year!
Best wishes to these patients who are themselves science pioneers and to the scientists who are driven to cure.
139
"Maybe I will have a little Jim Allison in my class this year!" And if you do, I will bet he or she will look back on your science class as a pivotal moment when you encouraged him or her. :) Even if no Jim Allisons appear in your class, we need students who have a deep appreciation for all science can do -- so they can see how dangerous it is to inadequately fund basic science research.
8
And you might have a Dr. Sharma in your class, too, if you look! Women researchers are equally involved in drug discovery and research. Now, let's pay them the same as the men. And have Moms and female educators foster girls' abilities like they do the boys.
6
Three cheers for all medical advances that help cancer patients. My concern is the relative paucity of media attention to the prevention of cancer and other diseases. There is a whole world of information and research about the ways in which nutritional and lifestyle choices can increase the odds of staying healthy, yet only a tiny portion of the funding allocated for medical research is devoted to prevention. My hope is that a greater portion of available funds will address natural means of preventing disease and the media will feature more of the advances being made in this first line of defense.
20
Our body is chemicals and electric impulses. We are what we eat, think and exercise.
This is how are body evolved for hundreds thousands years!
Stop eating bad food that a person should not eat and the body "needs" water, sleep and fruit, nuts, vegetables and good protein.
The body causes illness because of wrong food, no body movement and bad, unhealthy thinking.
Heal your body that has been proven can be done.
This is how are body evolved for hundreds thousands years!
Stop eating bad food that a person should not eat and the body "needs" water, sleep and fruit, nuts, vegetables and good protein.
The body causes illness because of wrong food, no body movement and bad, unhealthy thinking.
Heal your body that has been proven can be done.
1
Kerry, cancer has been around as long as human beings have been around. There was no junk food thousands of years ago, but there was cancer. People got plenty of exercise, along with the cleanest air and water possible.
I'm not a biologist, but I believe cancer is usually the result of defective DNA in a cell that causes the rapid, uncontrolled replication. Wrong food and "bad, unhealthy thinking" have nothing to do with it.
I'm not a biologist, but I believe cancer is usually the result of defective DNA in a cell that causes the rapid, uncontrolled replication. Wrong food and "bad, unhealthy thinking" have nothing to do with it.
9
I always have a problem with this kind of comment. I might have made one like it myself before I got cancer. I thought I was very diligent about diet and lifestyle. But it didn't protect me from...genes? environmental toxins? whatever is in the water I drink? I am frankly sick of magazine covers saying eat these foods and do this things to "prevent" cancer. (I'm looking at you, AARP.) If you get cancer, you get to also enjoy the feeling that others think you must have done something wrong. Karim Abdul-Jabbar, who is as fit as you will ever be, William out of Minnesota, said after his own bout that, "Cancer doesn't care how many championship rings you have or how much yoga you do." Let's face this.
19
My training is in behavioral healthcare, not in medicine but I started receiving daily Google updates on the topic of ¨stress and the immune system¨ about 15 years ago. It soon became obvious to me that a major treatment modality for cancer was being totally ignored or overlooked, that is, tapping the body´s immense immunological defenses to attack all kinds of diseases.
The War on Cancer was declared more than 40 years ago and billions of dollars have been dedicated to researching cures for this dreaded disease. The average survival rate has changed little *5 years* since this massive amount of funding have poured into the cancer research industry.
Joe Biden took the failing of this ¨industry¨ to task after his son died of cancer. I just have to wonder why an untrained person such as myself could discern this potent therapeutic when hundreds or possibly thousands of medical professionals are only now beginning to understand this pathway to successful, enhanced outcomes? I find this troubling, indeed.
The War on Cancer was declared more than 40 years ago and billions of dollars have been dedicated to researching cures for this dreaded disease. The average survival rate has changed little *5 years* since this massive amount of funding have poured into the cancer research industry.
Joe Biden took the failing of this ¨industry¨ to task after his son died of cancer. I just have to wonder why an untrained person such as myself could discern this potent therapeutic when hundreds or possibly thousands of medical professionals are only now beginning to understand this pathway to successful, enhanced outcomes? I find this troubling, indeed.
39
Jeff--take a look at the work of Candace Pert and Carl Simonton. He a physician, she was a psychologist. There's been speculation but no proof -- no correlations either-- to show a relationship between stress and/or a compromised immune system secondary to stress, and cancer. There may, however, be subtle genetic alterations going on but that's another matter. The challenge for clinicians is not blaming the patient, i.e, your stress level is contributing to your illness versus your illness is contributing to your stress. In addition, there 's a whole field called psychosocial oncology that may be worthwhile to explore as an adjunct to your clinical skills. Good luck.
3
There is no money in a cure!
3
Troubling indeed. I watched my first wife suffer through endless, grueling rounds of chemotherapy only to die in her thirties. And while I have nothing but respect for the work of well-meaning scientific minds on an individual basis, I have nothing positive to say about the allopathic medicine-drug cartel when it comes to the multi-billion dollar cancer industry. I understand that this article will inspire many, but thus far this appears to me as just another Big Pharma pyrrhic victory. There's so much vital information on natural optimization of the immune system that is ignored, scoffed at, or suppressed. The average person who still thinks of the man in the white coat as God has no idea about Max Gerson, Rick Simpson or so many others who've made major contributions to the aggregate knowledge base, and this is, unfortunately, I believe, quite purposeful. I'm sure I'll get the usual 'conspiracy theorist' ad hominem swipes, but I walk the walk, and have no use for allopathic doctors. I also believe if I knew then what I know know, my wife might well have lived.
4
This progress in the fight against cancer is absolutely amazing however I find one fault in the article. The author says that minorities don't participate for unknown reasons. At least part of the reason can be laid at the feet of social and economic inequalities in this country. Fewer people of a minority group can afford to get a plane ticket to Houston, weekly. I do not begrudge a single person whose life has been saved and has been afforded funding by a cancer research institution. However, if these institutions do not fund the same treatments in women, and other ethnicities, then these treatments will become potentially non effective in those groups. While the research is in progress people who are frequently not included in studies need to have a place. This step towards a cure should be available to all people.
99
This is promising. Cancer has ravaged my wife's family and recently my nephew died of cancer. But I agree with the comment of minorities not being in the equation. Let's hope that this is resolved so all can benefit.
26
I agree with you. At the beginning of the paragraph you refer, it states people of education and means who are able to seek second and third opinions. If you have no or inadequate health insurance, access to information or facilities as many minorities or working poor find themselves , diagnosis is made at advanced stages of disease or options are not readily available.
29
I think that this is the idea behind publishing an article such as this. I had absolutely no knowledge of this type of treatment prior to reading the article. It also sounds like not all medical personnel are in the know as well. It's not just relegated to minorities and poor people. It is the early stages of such treatment and I would be willing to bet that the drug companies that are not part of the group that produces their own immunotherapy meds are not wiling to let go so easily regardless how successful the new treatment may be. Unfortunately it is not just a matter of some mysterious discrimination that keeps people in the dark. Many other factors play into it. Like it said in the article, basic research is what broke this open and drug companies did not initially embrace this because I would guess that they didn't readily see how they could monetize it. Sad, but it's the world we live in. It's not all about black and white as I think the color green has a tendency to be the only color that some of these companies can see.
my bout with cancer starts in 1988 with non-Hogdkins Lymphoma with extensive chemo treatment, in remission for 20 years, then 2010 bladder cancer detected, 2 years of more chemo, in remission, then comes back in 2016 but answer is keep a positive outlook and don't give up.
96
Keep fighting Don! I'm pulling for you!
23
Thanks for your story. Statistics belie the need for hope based on experiences like yours, but now also based on increasingly rapid advances in treatments that extend life allowing for better odds of even newer treatments becoming available. Hope is no longer based on blind faith.
3
Your mind is a very powerful medicine to heal your body. Meditation and Buddhism can help you heal.
amazing story. if you have cancer, remember, this is a time game. you have to do what you need to do to stay alive while these medical heroes seek the solution. they're working on it every day. in the meantime, build up your immune system, don't go looking for trouble by thinking about what might happen in the future if things go bad, keep to the positive side as much as you can, and let yourself enjoy life in small and big ways. this last bit is part of the treatment, too. loving life. it sends a powerful message. while you do your job, the medical teams are doing theirs. time is on your side, so, use it well.
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Time is on your side? My father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Six months later, the median time of survival, after much suffering, he was dead. There was absolutely nothing he could do to slow the cancer down.
In the USA, as elsewhere, pancreatic cancer has exactly the same median time of survival as it did one hundred years ago. We're still nowhere near a cure.
Sorry to prick your bubble, but for most of us the world of cancer treatment is not a Disney cartoon where we can expect a happy ending, all these 'medical heroes' notwithstanding.
In the USA, as elsewhere, pancreatic cancer has exactly the same median time of survival as it did one hundred years ago. We're still nowhere near a cure.
Sorry to prick your bubble, but for most of us the world of cancer treatment is not a Disney cartoon where we can expect a happy ending, all these 'medical heroes' notwithstanding.
7
'Say it straight' has proffered sage advice, gleaned I suppose, from personal experience. Surviving a cancer is usually the result of a very effective patient/doctor collaboration, with both parties working in a harmony essential to defeating resilient and deadly foes such as shifty and insidious cancer cells. I, too, forged a strong and successful relationship with my doctors at Yale New Haven Hospital and the nearby Veterans Administration VA Medical Center when diagnosed with Hodgkin Disease IVB soon after my return from a Marine Corps tour of duty in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969.
Now, some 45 years past my projected time of death and during my new battle with cancer number four -- a rare form of leukemia -- I still rely on looking to the future and things I wish to accomplish then, as positive reinforcement and encouragement to "Keep on trucking." Stay positive and thrust the leading leg way out . . .!"
Now, some 45 years past my projected time of death and during my new battle with cancer number four -- a rare form of leukemia -- I still rely on looking to the future and things I wish to accomplish then, as positive reinforcement and encouragement to "Keep on trucking." Stay positive and thrust the leading leg way out . . .!"
6
Colenso,
You're right - pancreatic cancer still is one of our most difficult cancers to treat, and for most patients, there is no happy ending. Improvements in treatment have indeed been small, and we're all cognizant of how difficult this disease is.
I make no claim to being a hero, but please do know we're spending nights and weekends at work trying to make better progress for this nasty cancer.
You're right - pancreatic cancer still is one of our most difficult cancers to treat, and for most patients, there is no happy ending. Improvements in treatment have indeed been small, and we're all cognizant of how difficult this disease is.
I make no claim to being a hero, but please do know we're spending nights and weekends at work trying to make better progress for this nasty cancer.