Wingnut
Footballguy
Im not sure why, but this story from a year ago is being picked up by a bunch of sites recently...after the article theres a release from Stanford that was updated in January 2014 that says clinical trials may start this year.
http://nypost.com/2013/03/27/one-drug-to-rule-them-all-researchers-find-treatment-that-kills-every-kind-of-cancer-tumor/
Scientists find treatment to kill every kind of cancer tumor
Researchers might have found the Holy Grail in the war against cancer, a miracle drug that has killed every kind of cancer tumor it has come in contact with.
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.
So far, researchers have used the antibody in mice with human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate tumors transplanted into them. In each of the cases the antibody forced the mice’s immune system to kill the cancer cells.
“We showed that even after the tumor has taken hold, the antibody can either cure the tumor or slow its growth and prevent metastasis,” said biologist Irving Weissman of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California.
One side effect of the treatment was that healthy cells were subjected to short-term attacks by the mice’s immune system, but the effect was nothing in comparison to the damage done to the cancer cells.
Weissman’s group recently received a $20 million dollar grant to move their research from mouse to human safety testing.
From the Stanford release: http://stemcell.stanford.edu/CD47/
Clinical Trials in humans
After the successful outcomes of the experiments testing the use of anti-CD47 antibodies against human cancers transplanted into mice, plans were immediately begun to start clinical trials in humans. Unfortunately, the process of preparing for human clinical trials is long. The initial experiments were done in animals and the animal versions of anti-CD47 antibody cannot be used in humans. So researchers first have to create a "humanized" antibody to CD47, then the production of antibody must be scaled up in a sterile facility of the kind that is used to create other pharmaceutical products. Finally, clinical trials must be designed so that the data they generate will produce a valid scientific result, and the trials must be approved by regulatory officials.
All of this takes time.
For the last year, many people have been working to make clinical trials possible. We are now hopeful that the first human clinical trials of anti-CD47 antibody will take place at Stanford in mid-2014, if all goes well. Clinical trials may also be done in the United Kingdom.
As we get closer to clinical trials, we will start posting information about enrollments on this page.
(1/14/14) Update on the anti-CD47 cancer therapy clinical trials
Researchers and staff at Stanford are continuing to work hard preparing the groundwork for the clinical trials of our anti-CD47 antibody as a cancer therapy. We are anticipating the start of clinical trials sometime in the first half of this year, though unforeseen delays may yet slow that progress. As we get closer to the start of the clinical trials, we will be posting information about eligibility for the trials and how to apply.
There has been a huge amount of interest in these trials from patients and their families and friends. However, we feel compelled to emphasize that, as is typical of FDA phase I clinical trials, the first tests of this therapy will be very small safety trials involving only a very few patients. Unfortunately, this means only a tiny fraction of those interested will be admitted to the first phase I clinical trials. Accordingly, we are urging patients to continue exploring existing treatments and other clinical trials.
http://nypost.com/2013/03/27/one-drug-to-rule-them-all-researchers-find-treatment-that-kills-every-kind-of-cancer-tumor/
Scientists find treatment to kill every kind of cancer tumor
Researchers might have found the Holy Grail in the war against cancer, a miracle drug that has killed every kind of cancer tumor it has come in contact with.
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.
So far, researchers have used the antibody in mice with human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate tumors transplanted into them. In each of the cases the antibody forced the mice’s immune system to kill the cancer cells.
“We showed that even after the tumor has taken hold, the antibody can either cure the tumor or slow its growth and prevent metastasis,” said biologist Irving Weissman of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California.
One side effect of the treatment was that healthy cells were subjected to short-term attacks by the mice’s immune system, but the effect was nothing in comparison to the damage done to the cancer cells.
Weissman’s group recently received a $20 million dollar grant to move their research from mouse to human safety testing.
From the Stanford release: http://stemcell.stanford.edu/CD47/
Clinical Trials in humans
After the successful outcomes of the experiments testing the use of anti-CD47 antibodies against human cancers transplanted into mice, plans were immediately begun to start clinical trials in humans. Unfortunately, the process of preparing for human clinical trials is long. The initial experiments were done in animals and the animal versions of anti-CD47 antibody cannot be used in humans. So researchers first have to create a "humanized" antibody to CD47, then the production of antibody must be scaled up in a sterile facility of the kind that is used to create other pharmaceutical products. Finally, clinical trials must be designed so that the data they generate will produce a valid scientific result, and the trials must be approved by regulatory officials.
All of this takes time.
For the last year, many people have been working to make clinical trials possible. We are now hopeful that the first human clinical trials of anti-CD47 antibody will take place at Stanford in mid-2014, if all goes well. Clinical trials may also be done in the United Kingdom.
As we get closer to clinical trials, we will start posting information about enrollments on this page.
(1/14/14) Update on the anti-CD47 cancer therapy clinical trials
Researchers and staff at Stanford are continuing to work hard preparing the groundwork for the clinical trials of our anti-CD47 antibody as a cancer therapy. We are anticipating the start of clinical trials sometime in the first half of this year, though unforeseen delays may yet slow that progress. As we get closer to the start of the clinical trials, we will be posting information about eligibility for the trials and how to apply.
There has been a huge amount of interest in these trials from patients and their families and friends. However, we feel compelled to emphasize that, as is typical of FDA phase I clinical trials, the first tests of this therapy will be very small safety trials involving only a very few patients. Unfortunately, this means only a tiny fraction of those interested will be admitted to the first phase I clinical trials. Accordingly, we are urging patients to continue exploring existing treatments and other clinical trials.
Last edited by a moderator:
