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Thread: Most frightening disease --- winner = Cancer

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    Most frightening disease --- winner = Cancer

    http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...dy-is-ter.aspx

    Cancer is possibly the scariest diagnosis a patient can be given. Within the United States cancer is the second-leading cause of death behind only heart disease. It was responsible for nearly 577,000 deaths in 2011 -- essentially one out of every five deaths.
    What's particularly scary about cancer is that researchers are still in the dark as to what causes cancer, how it triggers, and in many cases how to fight it. In spite of throwing billions upon billions of dollars at cancer research, we've only managed to marginally improve overall survival for some cancer types, including lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, over the past four decades.

    Read the link for the full story

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    Depends on the cancer.

    Give me a quick cancer or even a long one that can be managed with pain meds over ALS any day...
    I find your lack of faith...disturbing...

    -Darth Vader

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    Bob (01-10-2015)

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    ALS traps your perfectly capable mind into a slowly degenerating body until finally your lungs stop working. $#@! that noise.
    I find your lack of faith...disturbing...

    -Darth Vader

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    Quote Originally Posted by Private Pickle View Post
    ALS traps your perfectly capable mind into a slowly degenerating body until finally your lungs stop working. $#@! that noise.

    My MIL had a perfectly healthy body and Alzheimer's took her mind, and eventually killed her body, but very slowly. Horrible death.

    I told my family don't cry for me if I have a massive heart attack or stroke and die. That's a better way of dying.

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    Don (12-16-2016),Peter1469 (01-11-2015)

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    Cancer is a better death than a progressive neuron or neurological disease. There are also some options now in some states and hopefully here soon for those that don't wish to suffer.

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    Redrose (01-11-2015)

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    Cancer cells can spread unseen, before a tumor develops...

    Studies: Cancer Can Spread Undetected, Before Tumor Develops
    December 15, 2016 - Research has found that cancer cells can spread unseen, before a tumor develops, and leave a ticking time bomb in the body. But the scientists who made the discovery say it soon may be possible for doctors to target these "silent" cancer cells and kill them before they can kill the patient.
    The researchers said the ability of these early cancer cells to spread while remaining silent for years explains why a patient can die a long time after being treated for what was thought to be a benign tumor, or even no tumor at all. Experts say 5 percent to 8 percent of cancer patients die of what's called cancer of unknown primary, or CUP. This phenomenon occurs when the disease metastasizes without doctors having found a primary tumor.


    A radiologist uses a magnifying glass to check mammograms for breast cancer

    In other cases, cancer can be successfully treated but return decades later. For instance, small growths can be surgically removed from breast cancer patients, but the women will die of the disease 20 or 30 years later. Working with mouse models of breast cancer, U.S. and German researchers discovered biomarkers to identify these abnormal, silent cancer cells that travel from the site of an early tumor and settle in the bone marrow or lungs. These biomarkers can show whether the cells are seeds of metastasis, suggesting it might be possible to give people with cancer a definitive prognosis.

    'Very difficult to treat'

    Oncologist Julio Aguirre-Ghiso at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine in New York was the lead author of one of two papers on the spread of silent cancer cells published in the journal Nature. He said metastatic cancers "are very difficult to treat, and usually it's because we use information from the primary tumor." Even if one of the metastatic growths is different from the primary tumor, he said, "that may be the killer. Right? And we just didn't know that. So this just opens our eyes into focusing more on the specific biology of the metastasis" and treating such growths "in a more personal way." Aguirre-Ghiso said that when CUP is diagnosed, doctors usually take a watch-and-wait approach. If even one cancer cell is found residing in bone marrow, he said, the prognosis is usually poor.

    But the discoveries by his team and scientists at University of Regensburg in Germany may lead to a shift in the way cancer is treated, he said. "I'm optimistic, because now we know we have a very long window of opportunity to treat the patients and prevent metastasis," Aguirre-Ghiso said. The scientists are working with drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company on the development of a drug that kills these metastatic, aggressive silent cells. Aguirre-Ghiso predicted that in the next four years, drugs will be available to treat wandering, cancerous cells emerging from "benign" tumors or unknown sites in the body . And, he said, doctors will have tools to tell whether a migrating cancer cell is active or dormant. If it turns out that even one silent cell is malignant, patients can be put on therapies that might actually cure the disease. That's something that has not happened before.

    http://www.voanews.com/a/studies-can...s/3638026.html

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    Possible cancer drug breakthrough...

    A New Drug Offers Hope for People With Deadly Cancers
    January 19, 2017 | WASHINGTON — A new drug is being developed that targets some aggressive cancers that are notoriously hard to cure. If the clinical trials that are underway continue to show promise, the drug may change the way some cancers are treated.
    Scientists at Pfizer, the giant pharmaceutical company, and Stemcentrx, a small biotech firm in California recently acquired by AbbVie, have developed this novel drug that targets aggressive breast, ovarian and lung cancer stem cells. Marc Damelin at Pfizer has been working on this drug, officially called PF-06647020, with Scott Dylla at AbbVie Stemcentrx. In a Skype interview, Damelin told VOA, "We’re hoping to rip out the cancer by its roots, essentially. Like when you’re weeding a garden, you need to get the roots so the weed doesn’t grow back, and the way we’ve designed this drug, is to go after the roots of the tumor and we deliver the chemotherapy therapy that essential kills those cells."

    Relapses are common in aggressive forms of cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, which make them hard to cure. The drug has already proven safe and effective in mice and in monkeys, and human trials are underway. "The therapy is, essentially, a guided missile," Damelin said. Dylla at AbbVie Stemcentrx explained to VOA that the missile is an antibody molecule which attaches itself to a developing cancer cell and is able to enter the cell like a Trojan horse. Because the scientists also attached a cancer-fighting drug to the antibody, the drug delivers chemotherapy directly to cancer cells and kills them. The missile’s target is a protein called PTK7 which is found in abundance in these particular cancer cells.



    Early clinical trials are underway with patients whose cancers did not respond to other treatments or had relapsed. Damelin says nearly a third of participants with ovarian cancer are showing a positive response. Dylla said patients in the current trial with triple negative breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer are also responding well, although he didn't provide the percentages. He said even though this is an early clinical trial, "The responses are clearly drug related responses given that the only therapy patients are being given is our drug." A larger human trial is scheduled to begin later this year.

    Right now the researchers don't know if this new drug would replace standard chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, or would complement those procedures, but Dylla said that is the hope. If it works, it could replace standard chemotherapy and the treatment would be a lot less toxic. Damelin said this drug might also help patients with cancer of the stomach, esophagus and prostate, and an aggressive type of leukemia because the scientists have antibodies for these particular cancers. The hope is that PF-06647020 could revolutionize the way these particular cancers are treated, in addition to dramatically extending the lives of those with these deadly cancers.

    http://www.voanews.com/a/a-new-drug-...s/3682546.html

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    Well, mebbe...

    Mice Help Find the Right Chemotherapy Treatment for Cancer Patients
    February 03, 2017 | WASHINGTON — Some people are turning to laboratory mice to find out what drugs might work best for their type of cancer. That's what Eileen Youtie of Miami, Florida did.
    "I have what's called Triple Negative (breast cancer). I have a genetic mutation called BRCA1, which increases your chance of getting breast cancer by 80 percent," said Youtie. Youtie paid Champions Oncology, a company based in New Jersey, to try to find a treatment that could work for her. Dr. Angela Davies is the chief medical officer for Champions Oncology. "What we do is implant patient tumor tissue...into an immunodeficient mouse, or a mouse that doesn't have an intact immune system, so that we can grow that tumor and then test different drug therapies to be able to predict which drugs are going to work best in a patient," said Davies.

    The laboratory can try out different drugs on a number of mice at the same time. Youtie had several treatments to choose from. "We got the results, and the less toxic one worked equally to the more toxic one," said Youtie. There are drawbacks to using mouse models. It's expensive. Youtie paid Champions $30,000 because she wanted to test several drugs.

    And, there are no guarantees. Treatments that work on mice have only a 50 percent chance they could work for people. But, anything that does not work on mice won't work on people. Another drawback is that patients delay their cancer treatment until the mouse results are in. The drug Youtie chose worked for her, so she is pleased with her choice to test the drugs on mice first, before she had chemotherapy.

    http://www.voanews.com/a/mice-help-f...s/3704633.html
    See also:

    Europe's Oncologists Back Biosimilar Versions of Cancer Drugs
    January 18, 2017 - Europe's leading association of oncologists has thrown its weight behind cheaper copycat versions of biotech cancer drugs that have lost patent protection, saying they are effective and affordable.
    Off-patent chemical medicines have for decades been copied with precision and sold as cheap generic versions, but drug regulators have only over recent years embraced copycat versions of complex biological drugs, known as biosimilars. Even though biotech drugs, which are proteins made from genetically-modified cells, cannot be exactly replicated, biosimilars have been shown to be equivalent in terms of effectiveness and side effects. "Biosimilars are must-have weaponry in financially sustaining health care systems on a global scale as well as significantly improving outcomes for an increasing number of patients throughout Europe and the rest of the world," ESMO President Professor Fortunato Ciardiello said in a statement.

    ESMO added that price discounts for biosimilars of 20 to 40 percent could be reached in Europe, with potential savings for health care systems of 50-100 billion euros ($53-$107 billion) by 2020. Europe has been in the lead over the United States in opening up regulatory pathways for biosimilars.

    The first biosimilar versions of cancer drugs are expected to reach the market in Europe this year, with Amgen Inc and Allergan Plc seeking EU approval of their version of Roche Holding AG's blockbuster cancer treatment Avastin. "Biosimilars are an excellent opportunity to have good, valid drug options that improve the sustainability and affordability of cancer treatment in various countries," ESMO said, also publishing a paper with recommendations on how doctors should handle them.

    http://www.voanews.com/a/europe-canc...r/3681421.html
    Last edited by waltky; 02-03-2017 at 07:31 PM.

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    Diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer two years ago...

    Man Beats Deadly Pancreatic Cancer
    April 20, 2017 - When Jim was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer two years ago, it sounded like a death sentence. But he’s still here to tell his remarkable story of survival against the odds.
    Jim first noticed something was wrong when he began throwing up shortly after eating. When he visited the doctor, he received a diagnosis of stage 3 pancreatic cancer – and was told that the survival rate for all pancreatic cancers was one percent. Jim’s doctors told him the tumor had grown too large for surgery. “It felt like, literally, someone turned me inside out,” says Debby, Jim’s wife of 40 years. Jim’s niece, Erica McGraw, is the wife of The Doctors’ executive producer Jay McGraw. She offered to help Jim get any doctor in the United States, but “I felt I had a good team of doctors. I trusted them,” he says, and he stuck with them.

    Jim began chemotherapy and radiation. “The chemo really beat me up bad,” he says. Debby was with him every step of the way. She tells The Doctors, “You cry in the shower, because you don’t want him to see you as this weak person.” After three-quarters of a year of aggressive treatment, the tumor had not shrunk. Jim made his will and resolved to live the best life he could with the time he had left. Erica and Jay took the extended family on a trip to Las Vegas to spend time together.

    After a year, Jim’s surgeon wanted to do exploratory surgery to see if the cancer had spread. But the procedure revealed that Jim’s tumor had responded so well to treatment that instead of stopping at exploratory surgery the surgeons performed the Whipple Procedure, a treatment that has been effective in prolonging the lives of some pancreatic cancer patients. The surgery spanned 11-and-a-half hours, removing portions of Jim’s digestive tract and searching for signs the cancer had spread. At the end of the ordeal, Jim was completely cancer-free! He had beat a deadly cancer. “To put it in perspective for people, 71 percent of people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will die within one year,” says ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork. “But here you are, against all odds.” “I’m feeling wonderful!” says Jim. “I’m walking three miles a day – I never used to do that.” He’s able to eat normally, after being told at one point that he would never eat solid food again. “I feel blessed. I appreciate what I’ve got here.”

    Jim and Debby are closer than ever. “I always loved her, but it’s in a different way than it used to be,” he says. “I couldn’t have done it without her.” “I said we’re going to do this! And we did,” she responds. She hid her tears through the whole ordeal. “I never did see her cry,” says Jim. He jokes that he thought maybe she didn’t care! Jim’s surgeon, Dr. Mark Hill, joins the conversation. He says Jim’s tumor was unusually large for a pancreatic tumor and surgery was unlikely to remove enough to stop the cancer recurring. The hope was that treatment might shrink it enough to make it possible to remove. “When he came in for his follow-up scans, it indeed looked like the tumor had responded.” But the only way to know whether the tumor could be removed was exploratory surgery. “It’s great to see you now and see how well you’re doing!” he tells Jim. Jim’s nieces, identical triplets Jaclyn, Erica, and Nicole, are in the audience to wish him well! And Palace Resorts are sending Jim and Debby to their all-inclusive Moon Palace resort in Cancun, Mexico, to celebrate his remarkable recovery, with flights provided by NTST Healthcare Consultants. “It’s party time!” Dr. Stork tells them.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-beats...000026696.html

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    Granny uses cabbage fer roughage...

    How the humble cabbage can stop cancers
    14 Aug.`18 - Scientists say they have discovered why some vegetables - including cabbage, broccoli and kale - can reduce the risk of bowel cancers.
    That cruciferous veg is good for the gut has never been in doubt but a detailed explanation has been elusive. The team at the Francis Crick Institute found anti-cancer chemicals were produced as the vegetables were digested. Cancer Research UK said there were plenty of reasons to eat more veg. The work focused on how vegetables alter the lining of the intestines, by studying mice and miniature bowels growing in the lab.


    Like the skin, the surface of the bowels is constantly being regenerated in a process that takes four to five days. But this constant renewal needs to be tightly controlled, otherwise it could lead to cancer or gut inflammation. And the work, published in the journal Immunity, showed chemicals in cruciferous vegetables were vital.


    From kitchen to cancer prevention?

    The researchers investigated a chemical called indole-3-carbinol, which is produced by chewing such vegetables. "Make sure they're not overcooked, no soggy broccoli," said researcher Dr Gitta Stockinger. The chemical is modified by stomach acid as it continues its journey through the digestive system. In the lower bowel, it can change the behaviour of stem cells, which regenerate the bowel lining, and of immune cells that control inflammation.


    The study showed diets high in indole-3-carbinol protected the mice from cancer, even those whose genes put them at very high risk of the disease. Without the protective diet, the gut cells divided uncontrollably. Dr Stockinger added: "Even when the mice started developing tumours and we switched them to the appropriate diet, it halted tumour progression."
    Signs of bowel cancer include persistent:

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