Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : momo-T/FIF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (384)	5/17/2004 7:47:16 PM
From: The Dodgy Ticker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12215

<<I don't get them all correct, Bob. I'm just trying to help.>> I know you are, Rick, and I deeply appreciate it! Glad this is something that interests you. I'm a bit confused about continuing to post on this subject here, but being careful in cross-posting. Maybe I'm the exception -- a valuable cross-poster? (Or maybe not <g>) I'll see if Terry has any more comments which would help the discussion, and will post them if he does. I expect it would be too much to ask to get any AGEN immunologists to share their apology for what AGEN is doing, but stranger things have happened. Thanks for the "back at ya" Bob

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (384)	5/21/2004 9:28:57 PM
From: tnsaf	Respond to of 12215

This letter to the editor in The Scientist looks relevant to the discussion of cancer vaccines, especially the last two paragraphs. biomedcentral.com To the Editor: I read “Necrosis used to kill cancer,” by John Dudley Miller and its source paper with great interest. I agree that this nice piece of research has much for cancer biologists to ponder. However, I also agree with comments from other investigators that in the field, this particular occurrence will likely be rare due to preemption by apoptotic mechanisms. As for the conclusion that necrosis induction would be preferable to apoptosis induction because apoptosis suppresses immunity, I'm with Dr. Evan that this suppression is not complete in any case when massive death occurs. In fact, it is a breakdown in such immune suppression that is thought to cause the temporary presence of anti-dsDNA antibodies in mononucleosis patients. The thought of inducing immune responses to tumor cells is of course not new. For example, about 100 years ago, the New York surgeon William B. Coley noted that cancer patients experiencing a bacterial infection would sometimes show spontaneous regression of a tumor. He then used bacterial extracts that he injected into tumors such as sarcomas. Occasional regressions were observed, and subsequent investigations co-injecting irradiated tumor cells together with bacterial adjuvans showed further limited responses. The immune system appears to be activated by such “vaccines” more or less nonspecifically, and the tumor cells were thought to be killed more as bystanders than as targets. I think it is most likely that a similar largely non–tumor specific immune responses would ensue from killing tumor cells piecemeal. My worry is that if any response does ensue in this situation, the tumor-specific response is not only going to be drowned out by other responses, but that we would actually induce very undesirable autoimmune responses. It is, I think (partially) for this reason that most investigations attempting immune induction focus on identification of tumor-specific antigens. Many investigators may say or feel that autoimmunity is not a problem, as their patients would otherwise be doomed anyway. I would argue that lupus-like diseases show that quality of life can be severely reduced by autoimmune diseases, and therefore we should be especially careful not to try therapies that potentially induce gross autoimmune reactions in anyone with a possibly appreciable amount of life ahead of them. I would use (drug-induced as well a ordinary autoimmune) lupus as a perfect example of why we actually require apoptosis to suppress the immune system and why we should not meddle with this too much before we understand immune regulation more fully. Nick Henriquez (N.V.Henriquez@lumc.nl) Links for this article J.D. Miller, “Necrosis used to kill cancer,” The Scientist, May 17, 2004. biomedcentral.com W. Zong et al., “Alkylating DNA damage stimulates a regulated form of necrotic cell death,” Genes Dev, 18:1272-1282, June 1, 2004. genesdev.org

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (384)	5/21/2004 10:52:01 PM
From: zeta1961	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12215

Rick watching the Lakers and the T'wolves on this wholesome balmy New England evening....and you've got mail... Meg...oops...Zeta...and you're not Tom Hanks...shux...