Promising Metastatic Cancer Therapy

Only preliminary research results, but promising that it's been demonstrated in vivo in mice. This would be huge if it makes it through clinical trials for safety and efficacy in humans!

Metastatic cancer cells implode on protein contact
By Blaine Friedlander
Jan 6, 2014

By attaching a cancer-killer protein to white blood cells, Cornell biomedical engineers have demonstrated the annihilation of metastasizing cancer cells traveling throughout the bloodstream.

The study, “TRAIL-Coated Leukocytes that Kill Cancer Cells in the Circulation,” was published online the week of Jan. 6 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“These circulating cancer cells are doomed,” said Michael King, Cornell professor of biomedical engineering and the study’s senior author. “About 90 percent of cancer deaths are related to metastases, but now we’ve found a way to dispatch an army of killer white blood cells that cause apoptosis – the cancer cell’s own death – obliterating them from the bloodstream.

See more at the link, including a nifty 2:22min video of the Primary Investigator, Dr. King, discussing the research!

BlazerBob wrote: SC, is that related to this?

http://www.examiner.com/article/ketogen ... agostino-1

I don't think so - this is dietary influence on immune cells, which is more generally affecting the body and less targeted than the engineered therapy above (that involves only one specific type of immune cell deliberately seeking out cancer cells).

Diet certainly does have an effect on cancer prevention and therapy. I personally am not such a fan of ketogenic diet, because while low-carb is good to focus on because we tend to go overboard with it, I don't believe that high-fat is the answer either - all things in moderation is key. An overall Mediterranean diet, with emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, balanced with low saturated fats (fish or white meat, as opposed to red meat), or a calorie-restriction diet are the two that I've seen that are most effective in that people who follow them are healthier, but that's a generality, not specific to any one individual who may respond better to a different kind of diet depending upon their genetics and lifestyle. Exercise is important too, as your body needs fluids moving and you want your cardiovascular system as efficient as possible.