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Biotech / Medical : Techniclone (TCLN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cjgaddy who wrote (2406)	8/11/1998 12:38:00 AM
From: Alys Hall	Respond to of 3702

Jack..I think we are all going to have to hold the stock a while longer. I like the patent protection and the J&J grant. I think that J&J would be an interesting partner to have and we are going to need one. Shero..if $8 is the value for LYM1 then what's the rest worth? Oh yes, BTW did anyone look at the insider selling out today?

To: cjgaddy who wrote (2406)	8/11/1998 6:50:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3702

Jack, "...I remember going to the Library on Sat. every once in a while to look up (stale) company info.... sounds like the Stone Age now, doesn't it?" Too true! My experience exactly. Now, via "Blood" on-line, here, and a million other places, one can be ahead of the experts in the field who are busy all day treating patients. Meanwhile, back in the jungle, golfdad97 wrote: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Message 7925 (55/M/Houston TX) Aug 7 1998 The immunobiology and immunotherapy of cancer has been my field of work for 20 years...I do know the field and methods pretty well. To effectively produce an immune response (either the induction of lymphocytes that will kill the tumor cells specifically, or the production of antibodies that will bind to the tumor cells specifically), ALL of the cancerous cells that develop (or are present at the time of vaccination) must express the target molecules that the lymphocytes or antibodies are specifically directed against. Therein lies the beginning of the heartache of immunotherapy...as we know it...that term I keep using...the heterogeneity of tumors. Now, in the case of a virus-induced cancer (lots of experimental ones in mice), you CAN immunize against viral-related proteins produced by that virus in cells and prevent and eradicate the cancer, but that ain't fair (classical immunology)...since the transforming genes of human cancers (be they viral or mutational in orgin) are so diverse and wildly unsupervised...we just can not find a common antigen to immunize against. If you think about it...that's the basis of monoclonal antibody therapy (oncolym, e.g.) against lymphoma. The patient did not recognize the antigen found on many lymphoma cells, but the original mouse in which the monoclonal antibody was raised saw it....and we use it just as if we had made the immune response ourselves. By the way...I have a candidate common antigen in mind...but can not comment on it here...remains a tantalizing secret someday. So you're right on, Merit...at the present time...our ability to provoke meaningful immune responses is very, very limited (those melanoma-derived and ganglioside antigens, Biotex, are interesting, important, but ultimately will not be frutiful), and we need combination therapies that not only kill tumor, but provoke patient defense mechanisms that can kill hidden tumor cells lurking in other organs...etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------- With Affymetrix or other gene chip analysis, individually tailored vaccines for the person's specific lymphoma would give a high kill rate at reasonable cost. Malaghan Institute and others are working on vaccines. As golfdad says, maybe not 100% and 100% is needed for a cure. But in combination with CHOP, Rituxan/Bexxar/orY2B8 of the CD20 group, TNT to clean up necrotic tumors not surgically removable, all done close together [CHOP can't be given with radiation due to Adriamycin or whatever name you use due to damaging interaction], with cod liver oil, sleep, nutrient replenishment, any diffuse, large, B-cell, intermediate grade, CD20 expressing, lymphoma cells would be looking pretty sad. Cod liver oil might look an odd man out, but vitamin D is bad for melanoma cells according to a Preventive Medicine periodical I read several years ago in Auckland Medical School Library. Also, Vitamin A tends to have effects in cancer. It makes sense since vitamin D is a skin-formed product and melanoma is a skin interacting disease which sometimes gets away on people. Since there is a correlation with the increase in lymphoma with the rise in skin cancers and blood goes into skin and gets UV exposure maybe causing lymphoma, maybe, just guessing, there is also a relationship between vitamin A, vitamin D and some lymphomas. But that's really just for interest of somebody who might actually be expert in that field. And anyone else for that matter. What piqued my interest is golfdad97's comment about a candidate common antigen, which is secret at present. Telomerase? That is universal in cancer, but it doesn't seem a simple matter to hook things onto it. Geron is working on this and no doubt others. Since golfdad97 won't talk, has anyone got any idea what universal antigen might be considered? Maurice