Possible Cure for Cancer
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Pretty cool. Apparently the "Reovirus" is a non-harmful virus that 70+% of people will get infected with (and probably not realize it). It doesn't hurt normal cells, and doesn't cause any discernable symptoms. But, if it is deliberately placed into a tumor, it will attack the tumor. And, after vanquishing its enemy, the normal human body will easily destroy it. Sounds pretty cool.
Your thoughts?
Pretty cool. Apparently the "Reovirus" is a non-harmful virus that 70+% of people will get infected with (and probably not realize it). It doesn't hurt normal cells, and doesn't cause any discernable symptoms. But, if it is deliberately placed into a tumor, it will attack the tumor. And, after vanquishing its enemy, the normal human body will easily destroy it. Sounds pretty cool.
Your thoughts?
Comments
Currently, I have a cat with a fibrosarcoma the size of a grapefruit on it's back. I wonder if they've isolated feline reovirus.
Originally posted by billybobsky
problem: it only works with tumors.... ah well. next pie in the sky cure come on.
You mean it only works if you inject it into a tumor, and can't seek out residual cancer cells elsewhere in the body? True, but that would still make it a nice adjuvant to traditional chemotherapy. The effectiveness of tumor debulking (usually done surgically) is an important determinant of the success of chemo. And maybe if you bumped up the titer a few orders of magnitide and injected the virus straight into the blood it'd be able to seek out metastases while still not killing the patient. Baby steps...
if you cut it out it can spread. kill it this way and odds are it won't spread.
There's a clinic in - I believe - Illinois with a novel approach to chemo. Chemo works because cancer cells are hungrier than normal cells (because they're growing as fast as they can), so the trick has always been to give a patient just enough poison that the cancer cells take in a lethal dose but the normal cells don't. You're still ingesting lethal poison on a regular basis, which is why chemotherapy is so hard on the patient.
So this clinic decided, why not make the cancer cells even hungrier? So they give the patient a generous helping of insulin, enough to reduce blood sugar to dangerously low levels. Then they watch, and wait. By the time the normal cells start to get hungry, the cancer cells are absolutely ravenous, and the clinic can administer a much smaller dose of chemo than they would otherwise have to in order to kill off the cancer cells. After treatment, they bring the patient's blood sugar back up to normal and release them.
I know someone who underwent this treatment, and it was remarkably effective. Obviously, while it's going on it really sucks (instead of being poisoned, you're being starved and then poisoned), but much less poison is involved and the treatment is over a lot sooner.
Originally posted by alcimedes
of course, it's better to kill off a tumor with the virus than trying to cut it out.
if you cut it out it can spread. kill it this way and odds are it won't spread.
I'm not sure that's true. It's believed that some tumors do have a type of suppression action on distant metastasis. With the tumor gone that suppression is gone. Why would it matter if it were from surgery, radiation, chemo or virus?
Originally posted by Amorph
(instead of being poisoned, you're being starved and then poisoned)
WOO!
Just pray that you never get cancer, groverat. 'Taint pretty, nohow.
Originally posted by Scott
I'm not sure that's true. It's believed that some tumors do have a type of suppression action on distant metastasis. With the tumor gone that suppression is gone. Why would it matter if it were from surgery, radiation, chemo or virus?
Yes the problem is that the tumors have alredy spreaded. Anyway there is a consensus saying that the earlier you cure a tumor, the better chances of survey you have.
Concerning the reovirus, it's a good new, but i wont "kill" the cancer by magic. It's a new weapon against cancer, but i won't be effective in all forms. However it will be great if it work only in some cases.