Posted on 4/28/2010, 10:22:45 PM by PJ-Comix
Scottish scientists have made cancer tumours vanish within 10 days by sending DNA to seek and destroy the cells.
The system, developed at Strathclyde and Glasgow universities, is being hailed as a breakthrough because it appears to eradicate tumours without causing harmful side-effects. A leading medical journal has described the results so far as remarkable, while Cancer Research UK said they were encouraging.
Dr Christine Dufes, a lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and leader of the research, said: “The tumours were completely gone within 10 days. It is fantastic. When you talk about 10 days that is the time frame for curing a cold. Imagine if within 10 days you could completely make a tumour disappear.”
Researchers around the world are trying to find ways to use genes as a cancer treatment, but one problem is ensuring they attack the tumour without destroying healthy tissue.
In laboratory experiments the Strathclyde research team used a plasma protein called transferrin, which carries iron through the blood, to deliver the therapeutic DNA to the right spot. Once in situ the DNA produced a protein that attacked the tumour cells.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Controlled Release, with an accompanying comment from editor Professor Kinam Park, of Purdue University, Indiana, saying other attempts to target genes at cancer cells have “seldom shown complete disappearance of tumours”.
The research was initially supported with a grant from charity Tenovus Scotland, which supports the work of young scientists to help their ideas get off the ground.
WOW!
This is in the lab, not the body. There have been 1000s of these.
I really hope this works.
Yay!
Just in time for Obamacare to deny you the treatment...
Wow indeed! But isn’t this very similar to the ‘magic bullet’ method developed for research several years ago? Did this protein bullet system develop out of the ‘extract cancerous cells, treat with person’s own immune system, return to body to hype the immune response’?
If I had cancer, I would want this treatment...PRONTO!!!
If it works it would be truly remarkable.
Yeah, it looks like no bad side effects like when you have chemotherapy. A good friend of mine is undergoing that treatment now and it definitely has a bad effect on him. I hope this new treatment becomes widespread as quickly as possible...if it turns out to be valid.
Great news.
I feel like I’ve read a thousand of these articles in the past 30 years. Time was they thought Mustard Gas was a miracle cure for cancer.
this is amazing if true.
wonder if this can be used for telomere repair to create youthful longevity. (take that Obamacare)
I think its a promising thing, but ever being the pragmatist, I cite (yes, I know, a movie) “I Am Legend”.
I see no other reference to this treatment other than in this article.
There is evidence that the entire universe but is a field of information. (the mind of God)
Scientists are now able to alter the information in DNA using light carrying the patterns of other DNA.
It would be fantastic if we could reprogram cancer cells simply by making altering them with the genetic information from healthy cells.
God bless the work! I hope it’s successful and able to be used on cancer patients everywhere very soon!
Ping.
This could be a dumb question: Even if it kills the tumors, what prevents whatever caused them to keep on causing them?
Time will tell.
Back when I was doing my Ph.D., I used to talk with a friend of mine who was getting his Ph.D. in Immunology. I suggested looking for tumor-specific receptor and then linking its ligand to a cyto-toxic chemical agent to target the tumor.
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