One drug to rule them all: Researchers find treatment that kills every kind of cancer

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
73
48
Another hopeful discovering.

From the article:

The drug works by blocking a protein called CD47 that is essentially a “do not eat” signal to the body’s immune system, according to Science Magazine.
This protein is produced in healthy blood cells but researchers at Stanford University found that cancer cells produced an inordinate amount of the protein thus tricking the immune system into not destroying the harmful cells.
With this observation in mind, the researchers built an antibody that blocked cancer’s CD47 so that the body’s immune system attacked the dangerous cells.

One drug to rule them all: Researchers find treatment that kills every kind of cancer tumor | New York Post
 

WLDB

Senate Member
Jun 24, 2011
6,182
0
36
Ottawa
Should move on to humans then. I imagine there is no shortage of people willing to be tested on.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
Two words: cannabis oil. Big Pharma can't patent it so they refuse to recognize its effectiveness. Every year they come up with a miracle cure for cancer but nobody is ever gets to use them. Why? They don't want a cure. More money in treating disease than in curing them.
 

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
5,839
471
83
Vancouver-by-the-Sea
If only it were that simple.

On occasion I use Nexium a drug for excess acid indigestion that workds similarly causes a reaction not to happen-and it's effective.

But the body is a complex machine and even when the
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
210
63
In the bush near Sudbury
Soursop (graviola) is believed to work on cancer too. Big business can't abide by anything they can't profit from

Can graviola (soursop) cure cancer? : Cancer Research UK : CancerHelp UK

From link:

In laboratory studies, graviola extracts can kill some types of liver and breast cancer cells that are resistant to particular chemotherapy drugs. But there haven’t been any large scale studies in humans. So we don't know yet whether it can work as a cancer treatment or not.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,748
11,086
113
Low Earth Orbit
Two words: cannabis oil. Big Pharma can't patent it so they refuse to recognize its effectiveness. Every year they come up with a miracle cure for cancer but nobody is ever gets to use them. Why? They don't want a cure. More money in treating disease than in curing them.

It doesn't work.
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
24,691
116
63
Moving
Should move on to humans then. I imagine there is no shortage of people willing to be tested on.

When you are terminal you will grasp at any chance.
But then we have medical ethics for testing on humans. Right.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
15,441
150
63
Yeah, I don't see great potential there...unless they can show that the cancer CD47 produces a slightly different form of the CD47 protein, the drug sounds like it could be problematic, especially for people who are anemic. It doesn't sound like the drug is selective enough to not target healthy blood cells.
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
24,691
116
63
Moving
Yeah, I don't see great potential there...unless they can show that the cancer CD47 produces a slightly different form of the CD47 protein, the drug sounds like it could be problematic, especially for people who are anemic. It doesn't sound like the drug is selective enough to not target healthy blood cells.

With new research looking to target the cancer cell directly, smart drugs, used like drones, perhaps this could be one that is useful.
 

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
73
48
Myth 6: There’s a miracle cancer cure…

Online claims aren’t scientific evidence

From cannabis to coffee enemas, the internet is awash with videos and personal anecdotes about ‘natural’ ‘miracle’ cures for cancer.

But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence – YouTube videos and Facebook posts are emphatically not scientific evidence and aren’t the same as good-quality, peer-reviewed evidence.

In many cases it’s impossible to tell whether patients featured in such anecdotal sources have been ‘cured’ by any particular alternative treatment or not. We know nothing about their medical diagnosis, stage of disease or outlook, or even if they actually had cancer in the first place. For instance, we don’t know what other cancer treatments they had.

And we only hear about the success stories – what about the people who have tried it and have not survived? The dead can’t speak, and often people who make bold claims for ‘miracle’ cures only pick their best cases, without presenting the full picture.

This highlights the importance of publishing data from peer-reviewed, scientifically rigorous lab research and clinical trials. Firstly, because conducting proper clinical studies enables researchers to prove that a prospective cancer treatment is safe and effective. And secondly, because publishing these data allows doctors around the world to judge for themselves and use it for the benefit of their patients.

This is the standard to which all cancer treatments should be held.

That’s not to say the natural world isn’t a source of potential treatments, from aspirin (willow bark) to penicillin (mould). For example, the cancer drug taxol was first extracted from the bark and needles of the Pacific Yew tree.

But that’s a far cry from saying you should chew bark to combat a tumour. It’s an effective treatment because the active ingredient has been purified and tested in clinical trials. So we know that it’s safe and effective, and what dose to prescribe.

Of course people with cancer want to beat their disease by any means possible. And it’s completely understandable to be searching high and low for potential cures. But our advice is to be wary of anything labelled a ‘miracle cure’, especially if people are trying to sell it to you.

Wikipedia has this excellent list of ineffective cancer treatments that are often touted as miracle cures, which is worth a browse. And if you want to know about the scientific evidence about cannabis, cannabinoids and cancer – a topic we’re often asked about – please take a look at our extensive blog post on the subject.

Myth 7: … and Big Pharma are suppressing it

Conspiracy theories don’t add up

Hand in hand with the idea that there is a cornucopia of ‘miracle cures’ is the idea that governments, the pharmaceutical industry and even charities are colluding to hide the cure for cancer because they make so much money out of existing treatments.

Whatever the particular ‘cure’ being touted, the logic is usually the same: it’s readily available, cheap and can’t be patented, so the medical establishment is suppressing it in order to line its own pockets. But, as we’ve written before, there’s no conspiracy – sometimes it just doesn’t work.

There’s no doubt that the pharmaceutical industry has a number of issues with transparency and clinical trials that it needs to address (the book Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre is a handy primer). We push regulators and pharmaceutical companies hard to make sure that effective drugs are made available at a fair price to the NHS – although it’s important to remember that developing and trialling new drugs costs a lot of money, which companies need to recoup.

Problems with conventional medicine don’t automatically prove that alternative ‘cures’ work. To use a metaphor, just because cars sometimes crash doesn’t mean that flying carpets are a viable transport option.

It simply doesn’t make sense that pharmaceutical companies would want to suppress a potential cure. Finding a highly effective therapy would guarantee huge worldwide sales.

And the argument that treatments can’t be patented doesn’t hold up. Pharma companies are not stupid, and they are quick to jump on promising avenues for effective therapies. There are always ways to repackage and patent molecules, which would give them a return on the investment required to develop and test them in clinical trials (a cost that can run into many millions) if the treatment turns out to work.

It’s also worth pointing out that charities such as Cancer Research UK and government-funded scientists are free to investigate promising treatments without a profit motive. And it’s hard to understand why NHS doctors – who often prescribe generic, off-patent drugs – wouldn’t use cheap treatments if they’d been shown to be effective in clinical trials.

For example, we’re funding large-scale trials of aspirin – a drug first made in 1897, and now one of the most widely-used off-patent drugs in the world. We’re researching whether it can prevent bowel cancer in people at high risk, reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, and even prevent cancer coming back and improve survival.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that we are all human – even politicians and Big Pharma executives – and cancer can affect anyone. People in pharmaceutical companies, governments, charities and the wider ‘medical establishment’ all can and do die of cancer too.

Here at Cancer Research UK we have seen loved ones and colleagues go through cancer. Many of them have survived. Many have not. To suggest that we are – collectively and individually – hiding ‘the cure’ is not only absurd, it’s offensive to the global community of dedicated scientists, to the staff and supporters of cancer research organisations such as Cancer Research UK and, most importantly, to cancer patients and their families.


Read more at http://www.iflscience.com/health-an...ent-cancer-myths-debunked#7kkygDAsHVeftrAp.99

From:
Don’t Believe the Hype – 10 Persistent Cancer Myths Debunked | I ****ing Love Science
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
24,691
116
63
Moving
Death is highly over-rated - though nobody's ever come back to the complaints department
 

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
73
48
With new research looking to target the cancer cell directly, smart drugs, used like drones, perhaps this could be one that is useful.

Funny that you mention that. They're working on drones/micro computers. That will deliver their payload (cancer medicine) directly to the cancerous cells. This is the problem with most cancer treatments. They target cancer and bystander cells. They can't differentiate.
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
24,691
116
63
Moving
Funny that you mention that. They're working on drones/micro computers. That will deliver their payload (cancer medicine) directly to the cancerous cells. This is the problem with most cancer treatments. They target cancer and bystander cells. They can't differentiate.

I was aware of that. i recall reading a few years back where they are trying to use stem cells to deliver a targeted packet of cancer killing meds to the cancerous cells.
Less / no damage to the healthy cells.
 

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
73
48
I was aware of that. i recall reading a few years back where they are trying to use stem cells to deliver a targeted packet of cancer killing meds to the cancerous cells.
Less / no damage to the healthy cells.


That's pretty exciting technology,eh? Sometimes I'm amazed at what is coming down the science pipline. I think it's all so way into the future they'll be doing this stuff and then BAM! I learn it's happening now.
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
24,691
116
63
Moving
That's pretty exciting technology,eh? Sometimes I'm amazed at what is coming down the science pipline. I think it's all so way into the future they'll be doing this stuff and then BAM! I learn it's happening now.

My luck I will be dead and stuck in a lineup at the complaints department.