How Mollusk Blood Could Cure Cancer - Popsci, page

Source: www.popsci.com...

Seems like everyday I see a new potential cure for cancer. This particular approach can be used to treat addiction, and that's where I will make it fit for ATS

How it works:

The giant keyhole limpet’s hemolymph carries a protein that is the essential component of a new cancer vaccine. Keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) carries oxygen in limpet blood. It is an unusually large protein—near virus size—and contains many epitopes, which trigger our body to produce antibodies. When doctors inject KLH into the human bloodstream, it provokes a powerful immune response. If markers for a certain cancer are attached to KLH, the immune system can be stimulated to attack them. Unlike some synthetic alternatives, KLH is nontoxic. Researchers use the protein in cancer vaccines to “break tolerance,” says Frank Oakes, the CEO of Stellar Biotechnologies

How it's produced:

KLH is too big and complicated to synthesize, so giant keyhole limpets still offer the best, most stable supply of the protein. Before extraction, Stellar employees move the limpets to tanks indoors. Researchers use a syringe to extract the limpet’s blood and then isolate KLH using a centrifuge. It takes about 16 weeks before the mollusk has fully recuperated and is ready for its next extraction. Limpets can also be harvested in the wild, but they die during the extraction process. There aren’t enough limpets in the sea to keep up this method.

Applications:

Breaking tolerance can also be used to treat addiction. Down the coast from Stellar’s lot, in La Jolla, scientists at Scripps Research Institute used KLH to make a vaccine that cuts out the euphoric effects of a heroin high. In their experiment, researchers gave addicted rats a cocktail of heroin-like molecules attached to KLH. Like the cancer vaccine, the protein provoked an immune response to suppress the high. Later, given the option to self-administer heroin, most rats stopped using the drug. Human trials are under way for a similar KLH-based vaccine to treat addiction to nicotine and cocaine.

More than a dozen vaccines that use KLH are in clinical trials, and a treatment for bladder cancer is now approved for use in Europe and Asia.

The article says that clinical trials are underway to develop vaccines for nicotine and cocaine. Could this be the thing that wins the war on drugs? It's pretty obvious that demand in the U.S. feeds all of the violence on the supply side of the fence. Some favor decriminalization in order to stop the illegal trade, but what if the next generation can't get addicted to cocaine?

A heroine vaccine has the obvious flaw that most pain killers are opioids, so getting your wisdom teeth out suddenly becomes a horribly painful ordeal because the 'tabs don't work.

Regardless, potential cures for cancer always get me excited.

reply to post by MeesterB

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They've taken the article down from your link and they've also taken it down from other links too (why? I don't know).....however I managed to find some of the article here......


cancerlabtechperspective.blogspot.com...

reply to post by bluemirage5

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Seems to be working for me. I can read it online and on my phone app so....
maybe you're having a problem? Idk.

reply to post by MeesterB

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This is what I get......

Page not found

www.popsci.com.au...

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

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Depends where you get your seafood from. Anything in the Pacific or the Gulf of Mexico I would'nt touch with a 10 foot barge poll

reply to post by Turq1

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LOL I skimmed through the article, and saw the yummy shellfish. It got my appetite going.

Whoops

Originally posted by bluemirage5
reply to post by MeesterB

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This is what I get......

Page not found

www.popsci.com.au...

remove that .au bit and it should work fine.

Edit:

Originally posted by mbkennel


The real science is deciding on what epitopes from what kind of cancers to put on the vaccine, which ones will inhibit cancer the most effectively and cause the least damage to normal tissue.

I second that. The future of science is very exciting.

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