British Scientists May Have Found Cure For Cancer - By Accident

As The Telegraph reports, “Researchers at Cardiff University were analyzing blood from a bank in Wales, looking for immune cells that could fight bacteria, when they found an entirely new type of T-cell. That new immune cell carries a never-before-seen receptor which acts like a grappling hook, latching on to most human cancers, while ignoring healthy cells.”

Wow!

Any thoughts from the medically minded folks here?

Does this have legs?

British Scientists May Have Found Cure For Cancer - By Accident

a reply to: Riffrafter

Anything other than Chemo and radiation would be a blessing for humans and well past due..

If this is an actual cure, it will never see the light of day. Big Pharma will not allow anything to hurt their multi billion dollar a year "treatments".
Remember folks, when it comes to cancer, it's NEVER about curing it, it's about how much they can charge before you die.

a reply to: Riffrafter

It doesn't work on all types of cancer from what I heard on the radio but it was a short segment. I'm skeptical for several reasons. One, highly unlikely some massive breakthrough with so much research put into it for decades but I concede, still possible.

Two, most doctors say a cure for cancer is damn near impossible which, is kinda what that segment said, it doesn't work on all cancers. And cancer mutates.

a reply to: Riffrafter

One Week Later...

The Scientists didn't kill themselves!

Those slippery roads near Cardiff.

It would have a massive impact on the capitalism of healthcare that's for sure but, more people would be alive meaning even more business for other things so meh. Long term it would actually improve profits. Short term obviously no. Just depends on how fast it could be upscaled. And who gets it first. Oh, that would be the elite. Everyone else SOL for a while.

originally posted by: TheMadTitan
a reply to: Riffrafter

One Week Later...

The Scientists didn't kill themselves!

Lol
I would make sure to not board an airplane with them in it if true.

originally posted by: 727Sky
a reply to: Riffrafter

Anything other than Chemo and radiation would be a blessing for humans and well past due..

True.

My aunt & uncle are going through that right now.

It's awful.

Both of my parents passed away from different types of cancer 6 years ago - and within 13 days of each other.

They were already stage 4 when diagnosed so no chemo or radiation for either. Just a ton of pain meds.

That was a very rough month for me...

Not going to happen anytime soon. Daniel Davis, a professor of immunology involved with it said it's very fundamental at this point. Not close to actual medicines for patients. It could be a decade or two before it's even considered an option and it still likely won't work on all cancers.

a reply to: Riffrafter

This is pretty awesome news, and yes it definitely has legs. I can't access the report without paying for it though, and I'm a tight arse.

But I did find this from Cardiff Uni,

T-cells equipped with the new TCR were shown, in the lab, to kill lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney and cervical cancer cells, while ignoring healthy cells.

To test the therapeutic potential of these cells in vivo, the researchers injected T-cells able to recognise MR1 into mice bearing human cancer and with a human immune system.

www.cardiff.ac.uk...

originally posted by: Stupidsecrets
Not going to happen anytime soon. Daniel Davis, a professor of immunology involved with it said it's very fundamental at this point. Not close to actual medicines for patients. It could be a decade or two before it's even considered an option and it still likely won't work on all cancers.

Really? Because,

Professor Sewell said a vital aspect of this ongoing safety testing was to further ensure killer T-cells modified with the new TCR recognise cancer cells only.

“There are plenty of hurdles to overcome however if this testing is successful, then I would hope this new treatment could be in use in patients in a few years’ time,” he said.

Professor Oliver Ottmann, Cardiff University’s Head of Haematology, whose department delivers CAR-T therapy, said: “This new type of T-cell therapy has enormous potential to overcome current limitations of CAR-T, which has been struggling to identify suitable and safe targets for more than a few cancer types.”

Professor Awen Gallimore, of the University’s division of infection and immunity and cancer immunology lead for the Wales Cancer Research Centre, said: “If this transformative new finding holds up, it will lay the foundation for a ‘universal’ T-cell medicine, mitigating against the tremendous costs associated with the identification, generation and manufacture of personalised T-cells.

“This is truly exciting and potentially a great step forward for the accessibility of cancer immunotherapy.”

www.cardiff.ac.uk...

a reply to: Riffrafter
I'm not medical, but I know the Daily Telegraph, the original source, as a serious newspaper.

a reply to: Stupidsecrets

One, highly unlikely some massive breakthrough with so much research put into it for decades but I concede, still possible.

Uuuuuuh this is the exact reason WHY there would be a big breakthrough. Let us consider the opposite end of the spectrum....barely any funding and very little time allotted to the cure...hmmmmm

a reply to: weirdguy

Used in patients in several years. Patients is not the whole planet. It will take a long time to upscale it. 10 or more and that is being generous. They are not even done testing. It could totally backfire.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: Riffrafter
I'm not medical, but I know the Daily Telegraph, the original source, as a serious newspaper.

I'm no expert, but based on my knowledge I agree regarding the Daily Telegraph, which is why I thought it might be worth posting.

Thanks for the confirmation re: source.

a reply to: Stupidsecrets

Professor Daniel Davis dosen't seem as pessimistic as you claim and mentions nothing about a decade or two.

Prof Daniel Davis, Professor of Immunology, University of Manchester, said:

“The Cardiff team and their collaborators have made the exciting discovery that a type of immune cell which hasn’t been studied much before, seems able to recognise a broad range of cancers. The team have convincingly shown that, in a lab dish, this type of immune cell reacts against a range of different cancer cells. We still need to understand exactly how it recognises and kills cancer cells, while not responding to normal healthy cells.

“So far, the power of these immune cells to kill cancer cells has been tested in a lab dish and in mice. At the moment, this is very basic research and not close to actual medicines for patients. But in the long term, the hope is that this type of immune cell could be the basis of new immune therapies, either by infusing these cells directly into patients or by unleashing their capacity to act. There is no question that is a very exciting discovery, both for advancing our basic knowledge about the immune system and for the possibility of future new medicines.”

www.sciencemediacentre.org...

originally posted by: Stupidsecrets
a reply to: weirdguy

Used in patients in several years. Patients is not the whole planet. It will take a long time to upscale it. 10 or more and that is being generous. They are not even done testing. It could totally backfire.

ummm, not several years. Patient trials hopefully at the end of this year....

The Cardiff group hope to trial this new approach in patients towards the end of this year following further safety testing.

www.cardiff.ac.uk...

originally posted by: DAVID64
If this is an actual cure, it will never see the light of day. Big Pharma will not allow anything to hurt their multi billion dollar a year "treatments".
Remember folks, when it comes to cancer, it's NEVER about curing it, it's about how much they can charge before you die.

This is what they mean by "freedom". Corporations have total control of what is available in the market. People who want to cure diseases for real are "communists".

originally posted by: DAVID64
If this is an actual cure, it will never see the light of day. Big Pharma will not allow anything to hurt their multi billion dollar a year "treatments".
Remember folks, when it comes to cancer, it's NEVER about curing it, it's about how much they can charge before you die.

What makes you think this new breakthrough will be free? Someone needs to prepare it and make it widely available for the general public.