Scientists have developed a holy grail cancer drug that kills all solid cancer tumors while leaving other cells unharmed.

hollydolly

hollydolly

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The new molecule - codenamed AOH1996 - targets a protein present in most cancers that helps tumors grow and multiply in the body.

It is significant because this protein - the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) - was previously thought to be 'undruggable'.

The drug was tested on 70 different cancer cells in the lab - including those derived from breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin, and lung cancer - and was effective against them all.

The drug is the culmination of 20 years of research and development by the City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles, one of America's largest cancer centers.

It comes amid excitement that cancer will be curable within the coming decade, a claim that has been made by the scientists who invented the Pfizer Covid vaccine.
The latest study, published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology, revealed that the new drug had been tested on more than 70 cancer cell lines and several normal human cells that did not have cancer but were used as a control.

The molecule selectively killed cancer cells by disrupting their normal reproductive cycle, preventing cells with damaged DNA from dividing, and stopping the replication of faulty DNA.

This combination of factors caused the cancer cells to die without harming healthy cells in the process.
The results will now need to be replicated in people. The drug is currently being tested on humans in a Phase 1 clinical trial at City of Hope.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...nihilates-types-solid-tumors-early-study.html
 

JustDave said:
No matter how health conscious you are, you can still die from cancer. And it is not an elegant death.
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You are right, it usually is an awful death. And there is only so much we can do to prevent it, cancer strikes pretty randomly, more if you smoke or something but lots of very healthy people die of it. About 20% of us will die from cancer. Any progress on treatment is good news.

Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-...ility-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer.html
 
Alligatorob said:
Huge, in the US alone:

National costs for cancer care were estimated to be $190.2 billion in 2015. Assuming constant future costs, we project costs to be $208.9 billion in 2020 (2020 U.S. dollars), an increase of 10 percent that is only due to the aging and growth of the U.S. population.
https://progressreport.cancer.gov/after/economic_burden#:~:text=National costs for cancer care,growth of the U.S. population.
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When I see these pleasant advertisements on TV for the local hospital that monopolizes just about everything medical in this town, I want to gag. All I can think of is the upset, pain, suffering, sadness, worry, fear the people and their families are going through.
 
I have been reading about this new treatment and am interested in it. I have low grade prostate cancer (agent orange related in Vietnam) and am holding off on treatment until it becomes worse. Doctors have told me that the treatment can be worse for me that just monitoring the cancer and having treatment when it becomes worse. I would like to take this drug if I could.
 
I thought I read 'with in a decade'. These are preliminary. Too far out. Seeing is believing.

Hopefully it gives other researchers and patients ideas and/or hope.
 
C50 said:
My daughter is a researcher and has worked on cancer studies so I sent her the link. I'm curious if she has heard about it and what her opinion is.

Obviously any gains are a good thing, hope it's true.
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Do hope you'll share anything she has to say about it with us.
Suspect that it will be years before actually available to any qualified patients and suspect that at least in USA will be expensive.
 
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feywon said:
Do hope you'll share anything she has to say about it with us.
Suspect that it will be years before actually available to any qualified patients and suspect that at least in USA will be expensive.
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I did ask my daughter about it. She wasn't familiar with the study but said City of Hope Hospital is legit so believes the findings are credible. Her caution is they are only in phase one of testing so very early, she said cancer finds ways around blocked pathways and wait until phase three to get excited. She was going to read up on the study and findings when she has time.
 
Alligatorob said:
You are right, it usually is an awful death. And there is only so much we can do to prevent it, cancer strikes pretty randomly, more if you smoke or something but lots of very healthy people die of it. About 20% of us will die from cancer. Any progress on treatment is good news.

Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-...ility-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer.html
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We have a Television advert by Cancer Research , one of our biggest charities running here which states that 1 in 2 of us will get cancer...

That's a terrifying statistic
 
C50 said:
I did ask my daughter about it. She wasn't familiar with the study but said City of Hope Hospital is legit so believes the findings are credible. Her caution is they are only in phase one of testing so very early, she said cancer finds ways around blocked pathways and wait until phase three to get excited. She was going to read up on the study and findings when she has time.
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Thanks!!
 
hollydolly said:
We have a Television advert by Cancer Research , one of our biggest charities running here which states that 1 in 2 of us will get cancer...

That's a terrifying statistic
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Yep the American Cancer Society article I linked above says about 40% in the US, pretty close to 1 in 2.

Much of the reason is that we have managed to reduce the rate of infectious diseases through sanitation and medicine. Result is now we live long enough for cancer to get us. Kind of a good news/bad news thing. Figuring cancer out will let us live longer, but something will get us.

Advancing age is the most important risk factor for cancer overall and for many individual cancer types. The incidence rates for cancer overall climb steadily as age increases, from fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 people in age groups under age 20, to about 350 per 100,000 people among those aged 45–49, to more than 1,000 per 100,000 people in age groups 60 years and older.

Age and Cancer Risk
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/age
 
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Alligatorob said:
Yep the American Cancer Society article I linked above says about 40% in the US, pretty close to 1 in 2.

Much of the reason is that we have managed to reduce the rate of infectious diseases through sanitation and medicine. Result is now we live long enough for cancer to get us. Kind of a good news/bad news thing. Figuring cancer out will let us live long, but something will get us.

Advancing age is the most important risk factor for cancer overall and for many individual cancer types. The incidence rates for cancer overall climb steadily as age increases, from fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 people in age groups under age 20, to about 350 per 100,000 people among those aged 45–49, to more than 1,000 per 100,000 people in age groups 60 years and older.

Age and Cancer Risk
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/age
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...and yet when I was young... only one of my enormous family.. who lived over the age of 60 got cancer.. and that was my granddad in his late 70's.. but he smoked and drank heavily all is life..

OTOH his son.. my father, smoked all his life from age 9 years old.. pack a day, but never drank alcohol, and didn't eat sweets and cakes.....lived until his 80's and died from issues related to parkinsons' disease.. and as far as I know, not one of my fathers' 15 brothers or sisters died from any cancer related illnesses.. ..yet we hear more and more of childhood cancers, particularly leukaemia..
 
hollydolly said:
...and yet when I was young... only one of my enormous family.. who lived over the age of 60 got cancer.. and that was my granddad in his late 70's.. but he smoked and drank heavily all is life..
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Age adjusted cancer rates have changed some, but not a lot. Over all cancer rates are up, mostly because we are getting older. Death rates are down some due to advances in treatment, but not as much as we'd want.

40 Years of Change in Age- and Stage-Specific Cancer Incidence Rates in US Women and Men
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6686848/

pkz038f1.jpg
 
Remy said:
Is cancer big business? You have to wonder. I have a co-worker. Her only child, 31. Metastatic cancer. I can't believe the nightmare they are going through.
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Alligatorob said:
Huge, in the US alone:

National costs for cancer care were estimated to be $190.2 billion in 2015. Assuming constant future costs, we project costs to be $208.9 billion in 2020 (2020 U.S. dollars), an increase of 10 percent that is only due to the aging and growth of the U.S. population.
https://progressreport.cancer.gov/after/economic_burden#:~:text=National costs for cancer care,growth of the U.S. population.
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Big business yes. Treatment and research. Hubby's costs were $22,200 a pop for Radiation (every weekday for 3-4 months), $33,000 for Chemo once a week (after radiation) and a few months of Immuno-Chemotherapy after all of that. Not counting Cat Scans, PET Scans, Labs and office visits. Oh and the surgery to install a port in his chest for the Chemotherapy. Consultations and trips to other cities.
His job fired him (in the middle of treatment) because he was sick too long and no longer of use to them. They cancelled his treatments until we could buy our own supplemental insurance and get the part B Medicare. It's not enough to worry about losing your loved one.
This new development will be wonderful for cancer patients if it becomes a possibility and the big pharmacy companies don't squash it because it will save money, time and lives.

Sorry, maybe off topic, I just wanted to vent.
 
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