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To: Pseudo Biologist who wrote (330)	11/14/1997 8:13:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 381

Pseudo Biologist, Geological time scale is about it too! Subject 12223 That is the Coulter SI discussion for other readers. Telomerase sounds like a real troublemaker. Pinning that one down seems like the king hit. The whole business seems dead easy. Nothing like those slippery cdma photons hiding out in a sea of quantum physics. Cancer seems as easy as clipping a marker onto the right cells, then sic-ing some T-cells onto them. Or getting telomerase to de-enzyme itself. While the mechanisms are small, they look like very much like simple meccano set processes. Or Lego for the less elderly! With enabling technology like AFFX's gene chip arrays, computers, magnetic resonance imaging, continuous blood monitoring, histological techniques and big floods of investment money looking for a better home than grossly overvalued Coke, Apple or McDonalds shares, progress should be quick. Doug, re the human genome project, yes, that along with multitudes of peripheral research projects on genetics and other diseases will be synergistic over the whole field of human biology. AIDS too has been a big boost for NHL since many AIDS sufferers get NHL. It's an ill wind that blows nobody good. AIDS has engendered masses of research on NHL related fields and which will spill over onto many other fields. Our crappy genetic structure seems to be the overall main problem. Roll on cloning, DNA design and build people and all that stuff. Having a child? Check out the menu of options. All guaranteed defect free - no cystic fibrosis, no Alzeihmers. Luddites and religious ideologues move out of the way. We're talking human freedom here! Mqurice

To: Pseudo Biologist who wrote (330)	11/26/1997 2:37:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 381

Max, thanks for all your contributions to Biotechs. I've read all of the IDEC discussion. Thanks too to Bennett! And Brad and others of course. Meanwhile, today Rituxan is approved. Nice timing. I might buy some. Not the shares, the product. Gee they sell it cheap. Only $10 000 or $12 000 or so I saw it is going to be. My brain is full of monoclonal antibodies, CHOP, statistics, B-cells, large diffuse cells, marrow, CAT scans, MRI, leucocytes, lymphocytes, P53 and p53. All that stuff. Cutting to the chase. I found one item of particular interest. In "Blood", 15 November edition, available on the Web, they reported a study on P53 mutation and p53 expression. If you have mutations of exons 5 through 8, then expression of p53 is a super bad prognosticator. Good if negative. It seems that the failed treatments aren't just bad luck but involve particular histologies which don't get destroyed by the chemotherapies. The classification systems seem to be archaic taxonomy descriptors rather than genetic based unambiguous facts. I guess with gene chip arrays, laser flow cell identification and the like, diagnostic precision will increase dramatically. The current method of staining and peering through a pair of binoculars seems hopeless. The p53 seems an especially important prognosticator for NHL. Rituxan should be used as a first line treatment in conjunction with chemotherapy in p53 expressors. [These are my ideas, so I'm looking for comment from people who actually know something about all this stuff. Don't forget, I'm a civil engineer, switched to the oil industry then read a lot about telecommunications and was never interested much in biology. Until now]. I gave a copy of the report to the doctors - all news to them and they are having a think about it. The ideal seems to be minimal chemotherapy, with Rituxan, followed by Y90 labelled monoclonal antibodies avoiding mouse immunity with primatized or humanized molecules. For those curious. Tarken is Stage 1A, diffuse, intermediate and large cell, cleaved, B-cell. No antigen testing done. No P53 analysis done. I'm pushing. Anyone know were p53 expression can be tested? Poisoning with CHOP starts next week. Thanks again Max, for all the information you've provided in the threads. Maurice