Final Fantasy Hacktics

General => The Lounge => Topic started by: GeneralStrife on January 25, 2012, 01:28:41 am

Title: Roswell Park begins testing cancer vaccine
Post by: GeneralStrife on January 25, 2012, 01:28:41 am
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP3b62b683525c40b4b29a6bb49c060322.html
http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/152242/37/Roswell-Park-Makes-Major-Annoucement-on-Cancer-Vaccine

BUFFALO, NY - Roswell Park Cancer Institute held a press conference this morning to announce the development of an investigational cancer vaccine.

Officials from Roswell were on hand to highlight what the vaccine can do.  They say the NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine has the potential to "eradicate cancer cells and prevent disease relapse."

The new NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine is expected to show great promise in patients with bladder, brain, breast, esophageal, gastrointestinal, hepatocellular, kidney, lung, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, sarcoma and uterine tumors.

Not only will the vaccine be administered here in Buffalo, but it will also be manufactured here.  Doctors say the development of the vaccine is very encouraging and it has minimal side effects.

The NY-ESO-1 vaccine, tailor-made for each patient, will be produced in RPCI's Therapeutic Cell Production Facility. Dr. Christopher Choi, director of the facility, says this is the first government-regulated study of its kind and it's the first time the vaccine will be tested in a hospital setting rather than in a medical lab. "We believe that our facility's custom-made barrier isolator, the unit in which the vaccines are manufactured, is the first of its kind," said Choi.

"This trial will be only the beginning of a very robust program of activity in the area of using the human immune system to fight cancer," said Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, director of RPCI's Center for Immunotherapy (CFI) and the study's principal investigator. "Our production process holds tremendous potential for applications related to stem-cell therapy and regenerative medicine."

Cancer patients who would like to know more about this research study can contact Roswell Park at:  1-877-275-7724 or email:  askrpci@roswellpark.org.

The announcement of this cancer vaccine has Western New York's medical community talking, including Erie County's new health commissioner.

Dr. Gale Burstein's first day on the job was just Monday, having been appointed by new Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. Dr. Burstein says since her focus as health commissioner is preventioner, this news is monumental. "Unfortunately we don't have the tools or the resources to effectively eradicate all cancers, and that's why we still have cancer. But to have this opportunity, a therapeutic vaccine to not only treat cancer, but to prevent relapse, it's a huge opportunity for us to really improve people's health and make them happier and healthier and have a longer lifespan," says Dr. Burstein.

Dr. Burstein adds it is about time the U.S. healthcare system start recognizing the talent at Roswell Park
Title: Re: Roswell Park begins testing cancer vaccine
Post by: Kaijyuu on January 25, 2012, 02:25:46 am
Wait. A cancer vaccine?


Wacky. That doesn't seem possible from my limited knowledge of microbiology; the immune system attacks things based on their outer membrane composition, which is hardly predictable for cancer cells (and obviously, rather similar to normal cells, which shouldn't be being attacked).

But I suspect they know more than I do.
Title: Re: Roswell Park begins testing cancer vaccine
Post by: st4rw4k3r on January 25, 2012, 02:55:58 am
Wow! I love this type of stuff (not the discovery part)!
But how long till cancer grows immune?
Title: Re: Roswell Park begins testing cancer vaccine
Post by: Kaijyuu on January 25, 2012, 03:03:58 am
Quote from: st4rw4k3r on January 25, 2012, 02:55:58 amBut how long till cancer grows immune?

Only bacteria and viruses can "gain immunity."

They stated in the article it isn't a fix all, but if it does prevent some cancers, those will stay prevented.
Title: Re: Roswell Park begins testing cancer vaccine
Post by: Tea on January 25, 2012, 03:37:21 am
QuoteOnly bacteria and viruses can "gain immunity."
They stated in the article it isn't a fix all, but if it does prevent some cancers, those will stay prevented.


Not true. Anything that can mutate can gain immunity, so cancer cells can too. It just wont spread to other people, as cancer is not contagious. Also, it would take a while (more than one lifetime for sure), since not all of the DNA-duplication-error-correcting-mechanisms are broken.
Also, they say "to have this opportunity, a therapeutic vaccine to not only treat cancer, but to prevent relapse, it's a huge opportunity", which says very directly that it is a treatment and prevention of relapse. The one thing that is not implied is what vaccines usually do, preventing the illness in the first place.

I cannot find how exactly the dendritic cells with one extra protein are able to provide an incentive for the body to mass produce Natural Killer cells who mass murder cancer cells. It is known that one of the most important factors for the prognosis of cancer is the immune system of the patient, but how you can build a vaccine based on that, I haven't got the slightest idea.
Title: Re: Roswell Park begins testing cancer vaccine
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on January 25, 2012, 12:37:48 pm
I saw something on Nova where some British chaps used nanoparticles attached to bee venom - which apparently kills all cells it contacts - to make the bee venom molecules only attach to cancerous cells.  This system also helped the body rally it's immune system against the cancer cells for some reason.