So, normally I will not make posts so close together but under certain circumstances, I will. For example, I have been working on a Senior project/paper for my Advanced Biopharmaceutics class for about month before I presented today. It dealt with Oral Lymphatic Drug Delivery. Now I know that the casual reader may not understand that but one aspect of that area is using medications to activate our immune system to fight cancer. Now up until today (the day of my presentation) there were no drugs on the market that do this. We have been fighting cancer by either prevention, surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. But today that changed. TODAY, that changed! The FDA approved a new drug, Provenge, to treat prostate cancer by activating a person's own immune system to attack the cancer cells. This is revolutionary. I mean this could quite possibly be the largest breakthrough in cancer treatment, EVER! Now it is a little early to be able to understand the impact on our entire fight against cancer, but this is truly promising, and I saw it coming! Now I am not taking credit but it is finally nice to see my academic efforts pay off a little.
The reason I feel obligated to post right now is because my presentation (along with a friend of mine, Thomas) dealt with this type of therapy exactly. And both of us, along with our professor, agreed that no treatment existed like this and that we hope that companies and researchers alike would be able to capitalize on it. Talk about coming full circle. As the science nerd that I am, this is really, really, REALLY exciting! Actually, I am a little bummed that I am not a part of that first group of people getting Provenge approved, but it opens the door for many new therapies of cancers and potentially other severe diseases, like HIV. It truly is a great day for medicine!
Here is an additional link posting in September of 2009, describing the mechanism for these drugs a little better. And if you don't believe me about my presentation, I can send it to you if you want...just let me know!
Well, actually monoclonal antibodies (like Herceptin) do activate the immune system by fixing complement and attracting the attention of leukocytes and eventually lymphocytes. I think that dendritic cell therapies like Provenge are much more powerful, though.
ReplyDeleteI know it's been months since you mentioned this to me, but I've finally gotten around to reading your blog. I'm still interested to know how the therapy allows the body to selectively target cancer cells. The Time article left me lacking in the mechanism department. Regardless, you've got another blog-stalker now. :p
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