Killing cancer.

[Donald the Great]

There have been some amazing breakthrus in the treatment of this incidious disease that we feel it warrants its own subject.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

Innovations in cancer treatment are incredible, if you have been unfortunate enough to require the services of a cancer unit then you probably know what i mean, i underwent radio/chemo therapy last year for oral cancer and cancer of the lymph nodes. I dont fully understand the mechanics of these machines but they truly are awesome and advances in the treatment of cancer have come such a long way in the past 30 years. We should all consider donating to cancer research,you never know when you may need the help of these pioneering people

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

How good is this news from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. (ACRF).

In a world first, Australian scientists have discovered a new type of anti-cancer drug that can put cancer cells into a permanent sleep, without the harmful side-effects caused by conventional cancer therapies.

Published on August 3 in the journal Nature, the research reveals the first class of anti-cancer drugs that work by putting the cancer cell to sleep – arresting tumour growth and spread without damaging the cells’ DNA.

The new class of drugs could provide an exciting alternative for people with cancer, and has already shown great promise in halting cancer progression in models of blood and liver cancers, as well as in delaying cancer relapse.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

Cancer Scientists at Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia, the Children’s Medical Research Institute in Sydney and the Max Plank Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany, have developed a way to wrap artificial proteins around the ends of chromosomes to effectively block the uncontrolled growth that occurs with most cancers.
Associate Professor Oliver Rackham (see below) team at the Perkins Institute has engineered proteins that effectively clamp tightly around the end of the single stranded DNA in the chromosome.

“A normal cell grows for just the right amount of time that is required for us to develop and maintain our bodies.

“They control their growth with a molecular counting mechanism that tells the cell how old it is. This occurs on the ends of our chromosomes which have little caps on them. Each time the cell divides a little bit at the cap of the chromosome disappears. Once the caps shrink to a certain length the cell knows that it has divided too many times and it will then stop growing or die.

“However, cancer cells subvert the counting mechanism that shrinks the ends of our chromosomes so cancer cells keep replicating indefinitely.

“The way cancer cells avoid this control mechanism is by producing an enzyme called telomerase which we need when we are babies and growing very fast but which we stop producing when we stop rapidly growing,” he said.

Professor Rackham says about 90% of cancer cells have the telomerase enzyme, when they shouldn’t.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

Australian immunologist Ian Frazer and virologist Jian Zhou developed and patented the basic technology behind the HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix against cervical cancer at the University of Queensland in 2005. The first vaccines ever designed to prevent a cancer.

Public donations contributed to the initial seed funding to Professor Ian Frazer’s research into the cervical cancer (HPV) vaccine. Over 150 million doses of vaccine have been delivered worldwide to date. Thanks to an universal immunisation program, Australia is set to be the first country to effectively eliminate cervical cancer..

[tex]

Re: Killing cancer.

Innovations in cancer treatment are incredible, if you have been unfortunate enough to require the services of a cancer unit then you probably know what i mean, i underwent radio/chemo therapy last year for oral cancer and cancer of the lymph nodes. I dont fully understand the mechanics of these machines but they truly are awesome and advances in the treatment of cancer have come such a long way in the past 30 years. We should all consider donating to cancer research,you never know when you may need the help of these pioneering people

My battle with cancer began in summer 2016 with throat and ear pain, i was given the news that i had base of tongue cancer stage 1 which is early and gives the best prognosis, it would involve laser surgery which was done within a matter of weeks and for a short time all was well, however the cancer returned in the winter and the bad news was it had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck.This was a much more serious condition and this time it required further surgery combined with radio/chemotherapy, i coped well with the chemo but the radiotherapy messed me up pretty bad, i am now almost completely unable to move my right shoulder due to nerve damage,also i have limite movement in my neck and jaw.Two years later i am still here and having regular bi-monthly checkups

[George 1978]

Re: Killing cancer.

What about cancer affected by smoking? Cancer had affected my family - mostly my late mother, and yes, she did smoke. She used to pretend that she didn't smoke, although one didn't need to play Hide and Seek to find Benson and Hedges and Silk Cut packets around the house. My late father used to smoke, but gave up by the end of the 1950s - I am certain that he was one of the first generation to give up after the Sir Richard Doll discovery in 1957. He lived into his 70s and died unrelatedly of heart disease - no doubt that he would have had 20 more so years chopped away from his life if he had continued to smoke, and I am certain that a doctor would have said on examination that he was a non-smoker if they had examined him close to the end of his life.

My late mother died in her 50s of lung cancer - she did smoke 30 a day for most of her adult life. I have various difficulties in my life which stemmed from being starved of oxygen at birth, anxiety, depression, Asperger Syndrome, you name it, and a low Apgar score (my body was more blue than pink at birth), and I believe that that my problems (some of which still affect me to this day) was because my mother smoked back then like a chimney - and that was a good 20 years after Sir Richard Doll discovered the link between smoking and cancer. I was dumbfounded when I was told that she had terminal cancer, but in hindsight it wasn't surprising. Seeing her in the hospital bed just a few hours before it happened was something that I don't want to think about. It ruined my new millennium celebrations because it was so close to Christmas - her funeral was just five days before Christmas. I know that I talked about IVF babies in the other thread, but this was something different even back then.

It did annoy me that these tobacco companies, (usually Benson and Hedges and perhaps John Player) had sent people (including my mother) these catalogues with offers inside where one would need to smoke that amount (30 a day) for a few weeks if not months in order to receive them - one might as well send these people a note to tell them to jump off a bridge or something. As far as I am concerned, a cigarette is just as a lethal weapon as a gun or a knife.

My point is that it is too late for my mother, even if we found a cure tomorrow, but one could argue indeed that her illness was self-inflected, and her illness was her own wrongdoing - I believe if she had not smoked, I am sure she would have lived another 20 years and probably matched my father's age. I have never smoked, and that is how things will stay for myself. Smoking is disgusting - the smell and the prospect of someone being ill as a result, and I am surprised that shops still sell them even if they are behind a counter. And those e-cigarettes (aka vaping) are just as bad - people walking down the street with them in their mouths look as if they are playing a musical instrument for goodness sake.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

My battle with cancer began in summer 2016 with throat and ear pain, i was given the news that i had base of tongue cancer stage 1 which is early and gives the best prognosis, it would involve laser surgery which was done within a matter of weeks and for a short time all was well, however the cancer returned in the winter and the bad news was it had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck.This was a much more serious condition and this time it required further surgery combined with radio/chemotherapy, i coped well with the chemo but the radiotherapy messed me up pretty bad, i am now almost completely unable to move my right shoulder due to nerve damage,also i have limite movement in my neck and jaw.Two years later i am still here and having regular bi-monthly checkups

hang in there tex.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

edit

[Donald the Great]

Re: Killing cancer.

@George 1978 : What about cancer affected by smoking? Cancer had affected my family - mostly my late mother

Terrible to hear your mother was struck down by lung cancer. You can say the recipients are weak willed. I say the blame lies fully with the cigarette companies. It is them after all that put an adictive drug nicotine into a cigarette in order to get everybody hooked on their incidious product. There should be a massive class action by victims of smoking to put these people out of business. I was a 20 a day man up until almost 45. I went cold turkey and have not smoked since. To tell you just how addictive nicotine is.. almost 15 years after giving up cigarettes I still get the craving for one. My son smokes E cigarettes.

[tex]

Re: Killing cancer.

hang in there tex.

Thanks, i'm doing ok, Luckily i had taken early retirement just weeks before so i had no financial worries. i could not of carried on working due to the limited movement and other symptoms.

[tex]

Re: Killing cancer.

Despite government legislation regarding the sale of tobacco products the fact is during the current year tax revenues on tobacco will be estimated at eight BILLION pounds so its more than a little cynical to insist that cigarettes be out of sight and sold in plain packets. If you think about it in the uk smokers are paying for there own cancer treatment in taxes....
The tax contributions of smokers
Smokers are taxed a lot. In a 20-cigarette packet costing £7.35, some £5.37 of the cost goes to the tax man.


Per packet, they currently pay tobacco duty at a rate of 16.5 per cent of the retail price, as well as a further 'flat' element of £4.15.

The result of this is that the Government receives a lot of money from smokers, with FullFact's most recent research showing that they bring in about £12 billion in direct tax revenues.

[George 1978]

Re: Killing cancer.

@George 1978 : What about cancer affected by smoking? Cancer had affected my family - mostly my late mother

Terrible to hear your mother was struck down by lung cancer. You can say the recipients are weak willed. I say the blame lies fully with the cigarette companies. It is them after all that put an adictive drug nicotine into a cigarette in order to get everybody hooked on their incidious product. There should be a massive class action by victims of smoking to put these people out of business. I was a 20 a day man up until almost 45. I went cold turkey and have not smoked since. To tell you just how addictive nicotine is.. almost 15 years after giving up cigarettes I still get the craving for one. My son smokes E cigarettes.

I couldn't agree with you more with your point regarding cigarette companies - I am not a person who would tell others what to do, but if I was in your shoes I would suggest that you should give up smoking altogether if you haven't already done so - it's a damn sight better to give up smoking than give up one's own life.

[George 1978]

Re: Killing cancer.

Thanks, i'm doing ok, Luckily i had taken early retirement just weeks before so i had no financial worries. i could not of carried on working due to the limited movement and other symptoms.

I am pleased you are OK, Tex.

I have always said that the UK Parliament should not legalise cannabis but criminalise tobacco and put it at least in the same league as cannabis. The fact of the matter is that if something is dangerous or harmful, no matter what it happens to be, then it should be criminalised. Full stop.

[tex]

Re: Killing cancer.

PROTON BEAM THERAPY...
Available in other countries for several years proton beam therapy has at last reached our shores and treatment is now available at Manchesters Christie hospital. Bad timing on my part however as the new unit opened just as my treatment was coming to an end.
Protons as opposed to Photons directly target the tumour and is suitable for most but not all cancer types, the benefit is that little or no damage is done to surrounding tissues and organs thus reducing many of the side effects associated with conventional treatments. Brilliant!, we are very fortunate to have this facility in Manchester