Cancer Research

[Kansir]

All types of cancers have been inflicted human since antiquity and we have been making decent progress in many area of sciences which help us to measure and use more tools. Why are not we making any decent progress in curing any cancer? On the other hand these chemo therapies and immunotherapy have not shown any significant benefit. Paradigm shift is long due !

[zetreque]

Cancer is usually a chronic condition that doesn't just happen over night. With more and more toxins that humans are exposing themselves too, that doesn't help the immune system any. The paradigm shift is waking up to the fact we are beating up our immune systems and being able to see many illnesses as often a chronic condition rather than an acute one.

[Braininvat]

I would take the OP more seriously if it didn't assert that chemotherapy is useless. I know people who are alive today, and well, thanks to chemo.

[Viola9756]

Chemotherapeutic uses can work..and have, however, I agree with above talking about our immune system. Paradigm shift is to lessen toxic elements around and inside our bodies which evolve and mutate into further generations DNA. DNA is the culprit and diacotically our possible future cure

[Serpent]

Cancer is not a single, coherent pathological entity: it has diverse causative agents and contributing factors; it has many variations and manifestations; it presents and progresses differently in each organ, affects each type of cell differently. There is also the problem of environmental particulates and toxins and the increase of geriatric cancers as life expectancy rises and the population ages. What I mean is, cancer is complicated.

Until the mid 20th century, more than half of the now-known cancers were not even identified. Only as diagnostic tools improve, as more is known and documented, as data are accumulated and shared, does it become possible to work on causes, treatments and cures.
In fact, a great deal of work has already been done; a great deal of progress has already been made; a great deal of success has already been achieved.
From 1966, when I first went to work in a hospital laboratory to 2014, when I got my 5-year discharge from one of the deadliest forms of cancer, mortality has declined, overall, about 25% - the survival rate is much higher in the more accessible cancers like breast and prostate; significant in colorectal and ovarian; still very low in stomach, pancreatic and brain tumours, which do not present early symptoms; nearly 100% in skin cancers; still struggling with lung - but the rates have dropped dramatically as people stop smoking and working conditions improve in factories and mines.

More funding is always helpful, of course, because those tools are expensive, but the best defense is an aware population and a good comprehensive health care system that supports prevention and early diagnosis.
BTW Expect to see a sharp rise in breast, ovarian and cervical cancers as conservative governments shut down women's health centers and screening programs, and allows employers to opt out of health insurance that covers reproductive care.

[doogles]

This seems a good opportunity to mention an interesting new cancer therapy that has been trialled in Australia over the last decades. It is a chemical isolated from the Blushberry bush, a native shrub apparently found only in the Daintree Forest in northern Queensland. A chemical labelled EBC-46 has been isolated.

It has undergone preliminary trials in veterinary practices throughout Australia. Animals were included in the trials only if preliminary biopsies of their tumours proved to be malignant. The results appeared to be good regardless of the specific nature of the tumours.

Anecdotal reports appear to have been glowing, but I have been unable to find a paper reporting the results.

There is an article by Boyle et al (2014; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0108887) on its use in mice -- Abstract
"Intra-lesional chemotherapy for treatment of cutaneous malignancies has been used for many decades, allowing higher local drug concentrations and less toxicity than systemic agents. Here we describe a novel diterpene ester, EBC-46, and provide preclinical data supporting its use as an intra-lesional treatment. A single injection of EBC-46 caused rapid inflammation and influx of blood, followed by eschar formation and rapid tumor ablation in a range of syngeneic and xenograft models. EBC-46 induced oxidative burst from purified human polymorphonuclear cells, which was prevented by the Protein Kinase C inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide-1. EBC-46 activated a more specific subset of PKC isoforms (PKC-βI, -βII, -α and -γ) compared to the structurally related phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Although EBC-46 showed threefold less potency for inhibiting cell growth than PMA in vitro, it was more effective for cure of tumors in vivo. No viable tumor cells were evident four hours after injection by ex vivo culture. Pharmacokinetic profiles from treated mice indicated that EBC-46 was retained preferentially within the tumor, and resulted in significantly greater local responses (erythema, oedema) following intra-lesional injection compared with injection into normal skin. The efficacy of EBC-46 was reduced by co-injection with bisindolylmaleimide-1. Loss of vascular integrity following treatment was demonstrated by an increased permeability of endothelial cell monolayers in vitro and by CD31 immunostaining of treated tumors in vivo. Our results demonstrate that a single intra-lesional injection of EBC-46 causes PKC-dependent hemorrhagic necrosis, rapid tumor cell death and ultimate cure of solid tumors in pre-clinical models of cancer."

These results reflect the anecdotal reports of results on animals in veterinary surgeries. The patent holders appear to be acting very conservatively.