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Immune discovery 'may treat all cancer'
A newly-discovered part of our immune system could be harnessed to treat all cancers, say scientists.
The Cardiff University team discovered a method of killing prostate, breast, lung and other cancers in lab tests.
The findings, published in Nature Immunology, have not been tested in patients, but the researchers say they have "enormous potential".
Experts said that although the work was still at an early stage, it was very exciting.
Also at Cardiff University:
Cardiff researchers have now discovered T-cells equipped with a new type of T-cell receptor (TCR) which recognises and kills most human cancer types, while ignoring healthy cells.
[...] [The] Cardiff study, published today in Nature Immunology, describes a unique TCR that can recognise many types of cancer via a single [human leukocyte antigen (HLA)]-like molecule called MR1.
Unlike HLA, MR1 does not vary in the human population - meaning it is a hugely attractive new target for immunotherapies.
Genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screening reveals ubiquitous T cell cancer targeting via the monomorphic MHC class I-related protein MR1 (DOI: 10.1038/s41590-019-0578-8) (DX)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @03:45AM (7 children)
They show (in a dish) that the treatment kills
A) lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovary, leukemic, kidney, and cervical cancer cells
but not
B) normal smooth muscle, lung, liver, intestinal, kidney, pancreatic, skin, or bronchial cells.
Vitamin C already does this and is proven nontoxic at pretty much all doses.
Here is a paper showing vitamin C kills
A) lymphoma, breast, lung, kidney, colon, and melanoma cancer cells
but not
B) normal breast, fibroblast, lymphocyte, or monocyte cells.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1224653/ [nih.gov]
Here is another showing Vitamin C kills (36/43 different cancer cell lines at less than 20 mM concentration)
A) lung, melanoma, colon, breast, renal, pheochromocytoma, pancreatic, neuroblastoma, glioblastoma, ovarian, cervical, breast, bladder, and lymphoma cancer cells
but not normal
B) normal breast, fibroblast, lymphocyte, or monocyte cells.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2516281/ [nih.gov]
You can easily find other studies reporting the same for other cancers like bone and liver.
But killing cancer cells in a dish is not the same as in vivo, you can even devise more realistic culture conditions (dense hollow-fiber) and see the concentration required to kill half the cancer cells increases by ~10x: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2000/articles/2000-v15n04-p201.shtml [orthomolecular.org]
So I wouldn't get excited about some cell culture stuff.
(Score: 2, Informative) by fyngyrz on Thursday January 23 2020, @03:22PM (6 children)
Linus Pauling, Nobel prize winner, suggested megadoses of vitamin c countered cancer:
--
Smart people sound like crazy people to stupid people.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @03:56PM
And? Did you want something magic?
I swear the mention of vitamin c turns people into frickin idiots. Did you even read the whole post?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @04:24PM
Paul Meier, famous for pushing RCTs to come up with medical treatments.
- Accepted medical treatments based on RCT results
- Died of complications from a stroke
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/health/13meier.html [nytimes.com]
No one should ever use an RCT to study medical treatments, you will die!
(Score: 2) by pdfernhout on Friday January 24 2020, @01:49AM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling#Death_and_legacy [wikipedia.org]
"Pauling died of prostate cancer on August 19, 1994, at 19:20 at home in Big Sur, California. He was 93 years old."
VItamin C status can be seen in part as a marker for how diverse your diet it and how many fruits and veggies you eat. Better advice on preventing (and sometimes treating) cancer is to eat "G-BOMBS":
https://www.drfuhrman.com/elearning/eat-to-live-blog/62/the-healthiest-anti-cancer-foods-g-bombs [drfuhrman.com]
"”G-BOMBS” [Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Seeds] is an acronym that you can use to remember the best anti-cancer, health-promoting foods on the planet. These are the foods that you should eat every day, making up a significant proportion of your diet. They are extremely effective at preventing chronic disease, including cancer and promoting health and longevity."
The biggest challenge of the 21st century: the irony of technologies of abundance used by scarcity-minded people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @03:19AM
That may or may not be helpful but large amounts of vitamin C are impossible to get via diet. How much would you need to eat to get only 10 grams per day?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @07:09PM (1 child)
How'd you get modded informative when you left out the bit where he died at 93?
Not saying megadoses of vitamin C counter cancer but in his case it sure wasn't causing him to die that fast.
Considering he supposedly had kidney disease at 40 I'd say he had a pretty good run.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by fyngyrz on Friday January 24 2020, @10:10PM
The point was he died of cancer.