• A Protein Killer Could Treat All Cancers, and Possibly All Illnesses
    145 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Since last April, 19 cancer patients whose liver tumors hadn’t responded to chemotherapy have taken an experimental drug. Within weeks of the first dose, it appeared to work, by preventing tumors from making proteins they need to survive. The results are preliminary yet encouraging. With a slight redesign, the drug might work for hundreds of diseases, fulfilling the promise that wonder cures like stem cells and gene therapy have failed to deliver. The biotech company Alnylam announced in June that its drug ALN-VSP cut off blood flow to 62 percent of liver-cancer tumors in those 19 patients, by triggering a rarely used defense mechanism in the body to silence cancerous genes. Whereas conventional drugs stop disease-causing proteins, ALN-VSP uses RNA interference (RNAi) therapy to stop cells from making proteins in the first place, a tactic that could work for just about any disease. “Imagine that your kitchen floods,” says biochemist and Alnylam CEO John Maraganore. “Today’s medicines mop it up. RNAi technology turns off the faucet.” Here’s another analogy: If DNA is the blueprint for proteins, RNA is the contractor. It makes single-stranded copies of DNA’s genes, called mRNA, which tell the cell to produce proteins. In 1998, scientists identified RNAi, a mechanism that primitive organisms use to detect and destroy virus’s double-stranded RNA and any viral mRNA. Mammals’ immune systems made RNAi’s antiviral function irrelevant (although all vertebrates, including humans, still use RNAi to regulate mRNA activity), but researchers found that introducing small segments of double-stranded RNA to cells could trigger the ancient mechanism and selectively halt the production of specific proteins. That ability makes RNAi a potential fix for many diseases, including cancer, that arise when abnormal cells produce excessive amounts of everyday proteins. In theory, manipulating RNAi to kill proteins is simple. ALN-VSP, for example, consists of synthetic double-stranded RNA designed to match tumor mRNA that codes for two proteins: VEGF, which cancers overproduce to help grow new blood vessels, and KSP, which sets off rapid cell division. The researchers send the synthetic RNA into liver cells, and the body’s RNAi system kills both the synthetic RNA and any matching tumor-grown mRNA. Knock out the mRNAs coding for those proteins—which in the liver are produced only by cancer cells—and the tumor stops growing. “We can turn off any one of 20,000 genes with RNAi,” says Bruce Sullenger, a molecular biologist researching RNAi at Duke University. “The challenge has been to get a drug into only the desired cells and not harm others.” Researchers have worried that a drug might disrupt normal protein production in a healthy cell, or that the immune system will destroy the drug before it reaches its target. Alnylam overcame both concerns by packaging the drug in a fatty envelope that is absorbed primarily by the liver. This allowed doctors to administer the drug through the blood, rather than by an injection to one spot, which improves results by ensuring that the entire liver receives an even dose. The technique’s ability to attack single genes could lead to drugs for the 75 percent of cancer genes that lack any specific treatment, as well as for other illnesses. Alnylam is already testing RNAi therapy for Huntington’s disease and high cholesterol in cell cultures; other researchers are tackling macular degeneration, muscular dystrophy and HIV. The potential has driven nearly every major pharmaceutical company to start an RNAi program. Because the approach is fundamentally simple, RNAi therapy could be ready within two years, say experts including John Rossi, a molecular geneticist at City of Hope National Medical Center in California. Alnylam plans to enroll an additional 36 patients in the ALN-VSP trial and increase the dosage, but the early results are good enough to suggest that it could be among the first RNAi therapies to hit the market. “I think RNAi could work for anything,” Rossi says. “But even if it only works for liver cancer, it would be pretty good.” For liver-cancer patients who have been failed by chemotherapy and radiation and felt their harsh side effects, that would be wonder drug enough.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/rx-every-disease[/url]
No idea what alot of this means, but this is great.
Holy shit.
I'm glad that we're making progression in the battle against cancer. Perhaps this 'wonder drug' will be the key to something bigger?
is it FEV because this is sounding a lot like FEV
Holy fucking ball sack cunt fucking dick balls.
Suddenly I Am Legend.
Also; watch it get shelved by pharmaceutical companies.
Well, looks like we will be eradicating cancer before 2030 after all.
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290394]Also; watch it get shelved by pharmaceutical companies.[/QUOTE] if it works that's unlikely.
[QUOTE=mike;24290438]if it works that's unlikely.[/QUOTE] They make more money off of the chemo and rad because it has to be applied like every week or so.
:aaaaa:
[QUOTE=Viper202;24290385]Suddenly I Am Legend.[/QUOTE] EXACTLY my first thought, it seems kind of too good to be true. It's ok though, if anyone is gonna be prepared for a zombie apocalypse it's facepunch!
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290456]They make more money off of the chemo and rad because it has to be applied like every week or so.[/QUOTE] it their plan was to not market it (if it works) then this biotech company wouldn't have released this press release.
so it just kills what is necessary for the diseased/cancerous/etc cells to survive? :iia:
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290456]They make more money off of the chemo and rad because it has to be applied like every week or so.[/QUOTE] Do you have a tinfoil hat on?
if only they thought of this 4 years ago
[QUOTE=badMedia;24290543]if only they thought of this 4 years ago[/QUOTE] if only they had this during the black plague...
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290456]They make more money off of the chemo and rad because it has to be applied like every week or so.[/QUOTE] Corporations aren't as evil as you, in your angst-filled rage, might think
[QUOTE=Wyvers;24290479]EXACTLY my first thought, it seems kind of too good to be true. It's ok though, if anyone is gonna be prepared for a zombie apocalypse it's facepunch![/QUOTE] I'll do a Shaun of the Dead, and act like a zombie, increasingly gaining attention, while you guys run away, get some M4 Carbines, and blow the fuckers' heads off, while somehow avoiding me. So there I'll stand in the middle of the street, with blood all around me. Then I remember I have a radio, and call for a chopper. I'l get in the chopper, kill the pilot and co-pilot and fly off into the sunset, leaving you all behind.
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290456]They make more money off of the chemo and rad because it has to be applied like every week or so.[/QUOTE] And then think about the billions that company could make if they release a drug that can cure cancer/other diseases.
[QUOTE=Earthen;24290596]Corporations aren't as evil as you, in your angst-filled rage, might think[/QUOTE] you have no idea what you are talking about corporations get away with a lot of things, they even take normal drugs and rebrand them, claiming their rebranded version to be better than the original so they can sell it at a higher price
[QUOTE=Earthen;24290596]Corporations aren't as evil as you, in your angst-filled rage, might think[/QUOTE] Although you have to also realize a single drug that has the capacity to stop a multi-billion dollar industry would be seen with suspicion. [editline]11:59AM[/editline] [QUOTE=AzzyMaster;24290632]And then think about the billions that company could make if they release a drug that can cure cancer/other diseases.[/QUOTE] Compared to the billions they're making now?
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290456]They make more money off of the chemo and rad because it has to be applied like every week or so.[/QUOTE] Yes but imagine the marketability for something like this.
sounds great but what are the side effects? well just have to wait decades :|
[QUOTE=Archy;24290637]you have no idea what you are talking about corporations get away with a lot of things, they even take normal drugs and rebrand them, claiming their rebranded version to be better than the original so they can sell it at a higher price[/QUOTE] Stop using Bioshock and Resident Evil as your only sources of knowledge
[QUOTE=Comrade General;24290690]Stop using Bioshock and Resident Evil as your only sources of knowledge[/QUOTE] it happens
Gah, I'm off to change my name to Robert Neville and buy a sports car. Be back in 10, guys.
We may be coming close to a cure... any year now possibly.
[QUOTE=Archy;24290699]it happens[/QUOTE] No. No it doesn't. Not in the current market. You have no idea how many drug regulations, testings, re-testings, and trials they are put through. They are only re-released after long FDA re-trials because they've been reformulated/have new addatives to increase shelf life or make it better or easier or cheaper to produce.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.