Al's Comment:

 This is the counter point to the 60 Minutes story on the polio vaccine for glioblastomas.  She has a few good points. It is way too early to say this is a miracle cure.  However, I think it has the potential to be a big step forward.  Contrary to what this reporter says, I do think that IF it works for GBMs, it is very likely that it will work for most other types of cancer. There wasn't enough time to talk about it on the show but I was at Duke a few weeks ago where it was discussed at length and they discussed how they tested the other types of cancer in the test tube and animal models, and it is the same mechanism of action. In the GBM trial, there were some deaths relating to increased swelling in the brain as the immune system kicked into high gear.  That causes a problem because in the head, the skull has a limited volume and can not expand, so swelling causes a rise in the intracranial pressure which causes all sorts of problems.  We do not have that problem in the rest of the body- swelling can be accommodated  easily.  So it may work better outside the brain.  We are lucky they are working on the brain first. 


Posted on: 05/19/2016

What '60 Minutes' Still Isn't Saying About The 'Miracle' Glioblastoma Drug

 


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