Cancer Cured? (Stanford)

The questions I have is, this about the anti-CD47 antibody that you'd give the patients. That signal given by CD47 must exist for something else too. It's likely not just many cancerous cell's shields from the body's immune system but probably has other interactions that may be important, so by blocking it are we allowing our immune system to attack other things in the body or perhaps blocking certain interactions?

The antibody for the CD47 protein is a genetically modified protein and synthesized outside the human body. Cancer becomes deadly when the cells start growing uncontrollably. One of the possibilities to eliminate cancer is to isolate or develop the antibodies that signals macrophages to destroy the cancerous cell. However, the problem in most studies is distinguishing healthy cells from cancerous cell. This study has identified the antibody and been modified to signal macrophages to destroy cancerous cells. The macrophages themselves are naturally produced in the body and their main role is destroying cells. The best way to distinguish a health cell from a cancerous cells is the antibodies they produce (experession). This is how researchers find out what diseases you have or any precursors that lead to it.

There are two drawbacks to this: 1) Existing bodily functions that rely on CD47 antibody will be disrupted. They have not been determined yet nor how much an impact it will cause. 2) Brain cancer cells are not reproduced. However, it can still destroy the cancerous cells.

Keep in mind the antibodies themselves do not repair your body thus it would not directly result in an zombie apocalypse.

Obesity needs a cure !

Start by closing down terrible fast-food restaurants like McDonalds.

Then, idk, create some drug that eats fat, or something.

Obesity needs a cure !

Start by closing down terrible fast-food restaurants like McDonalds.

Then, idk, create some drug that eats fat, or something.

Stanford researchers are on track to begin human trials of a potentially potent new weapon against cancer, and would-be participants are flooding in following the Post’s initial report on the discovery.

The progress comes just two months after the groundbreaking study by Dr Irv Weissman, who developed an antibody that breaks down a cancer's defense mechanisms in the body.

A protein called CD47 tells the body not to "eat" the cancer, but the antibody developed by Dr Weissman blocks CD47 and frees up immune cells called macrophages — which can then engulf the deadly cells.


The new research shows the miraculous macrophages effectively act as intelligence gatherers for the body, pointing out cancerous cells to cancer-fighting "killer T" cells.

The T cells then "learn" to hunt down and attack the cancer, the researchers claim.

“It was completely unexpected that CD8+ T (killer T) cells would be mobilized when macrophages engulfed the cancer cells in the presence of CD47-blocking antibodies,” said MD/PhD student Diane Tseng, who works with Dr. Weissman.

The clinical implications of the process could be profound in the war on cancer.

When macrophages present "killer T" cells with a patient's cancer, the T cells become attuned to the unique molecular markers on the cancer.

This turns them into a personalized cancer vaccine.

“Because T cells are sensitized to attack a patient’s particular cancer, the administration of CD47-blocking antibodies in a sense could act as a personalized vaccination against that cancer,” Tseng said.

The team of researchers at Stanford plan on starting a small 10-100 person phase I clinical human trial of the cancer therapy in 2014.