Boosting our immune system to treat tumours

The immune system is our body’s armed forces, designed to defend our body against all intruders that seek to harm us.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

A doctor examines a chest x-ray. One of the cancers immunotherapy has been successful in treating is non-small cell lung cancer. — Photos: AFP

So, why doesn’t it seem to work when it comes to cancer?

Well, the answer is that cancer cells can be really crafty, employing a number of strategies to avoid being sought out and destroyed by our body’s soldiers.

That is why we humans had to get even craftier.

Immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that helps our immune system in its fight against cancer.

According to consultant clinical oncologist Dr Tho Lye Mun: “Immunotherapy is probably the biggest, most exciting breakthrough we’ve had in cancer for a long, long time.”

He adds: “The success story of immunotherapy is in melanoma, but we don’t get a lot of that in Malaysia.

“But we get a lot of lung cancer. It is the number one cancer killer of men in Malaysia, and the third for women after breast and cervical cancer.

“And that’s where immunotherapy has had the greatest impact (in Malaysia).”

He explains that immunotherapy was initially used as second-line treatment after non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients had failed to improve after chemotherapy or targeted therapy.

However, immunotherapy has proved to work so well that it is now a first-line treatment.

According to Dr Tho, the majority of patients who are suitable for immunotherapy now receive it as their first treatment.

“And it’s been shown to be more effective than chemotherapy,” he says, adding that Malaysia actually took part in the international Keynote-042 clinical trial, which established that a particular immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, was more effective than chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC – the most common type of lung cancer.

Blocking proteins

Pembrolizumab, also known by the brand name Keytruda, is a type of immunotherapy known as a checkpoint inhibitor.

A checkpoint inhibitor is basically a monoclonal antibody that blocks proteins that stop the immune system from attacking the cancer cells.

A monoclonal antibody is a type of protein made in the laboratory that is produced by a single cell line and only binds to one substance, i.e. one particular antigen.

Dr Tho explains: “When tumour cells exist and when they die, they release antigens into the bloodstream, and these are picked up by antigen-presenting cells.

“These cells then travel to the lymph node where they ‘educate’ or prime T-cells (a type of immune cell) to recognise the antigens.

“These T-cells then exit the lymph nodes into the bloodstream and travel to the tumour, where they recognise it and kill it.”

However, some tumour cells have cleverly managed to incorporate a protein called programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) into themselves.

According to Dr Tho, PD-L1 exists in nature to prevent T-cells from recognising our own cells as foreign and killing them.

T-cells have a receptor called programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) that fits specifically with PDL-1. This is the signal to the T-cells not to attack the cell with PDL-1.

So, cancer cells that express PD-L1 are actually disguising themselves – or putting on a mask, as Dr Tho says – as one of the body’s normal cells in order to avoid being killed by our T-cells.

Dr Tho explains how cancer cells trigger the immune system. According to him, the problem is not that cancer patients do not have a strong enough immune system, but that the immune cells are unable to recognise the cancer cells due to a number of reasons. — AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star

Pembrolizumab and nivolumab are immunotherapies that block PD-1 from fitting with PD-L1, allowing the T-cells to go ahead and kill the cancer cells.

Pembrolizumab was recently approved in Malaysia as a first-line treatment for metastatic NSCLC where over 50% of the cancer cells express PD-L1.

It is also approved as both first- and second-line treatment for unresectable or metastatic melanoma, and recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, which has progressed while either on or after receiving platinum-containing chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, atezolizumab, also known by the brand name Tencentriq, is an immunotherapy that works by blocking PD-L1 itself, effectively “unmasking” the cancer cells and allowing the T-cells to recognise them as “foreign” and kill them.

It was approved recently in Malaysia for the treatment of metastatic NSCLC, which has progressed while either on or after receiving platinum-containing chemotherapy.

Another checkpoint inhibitor, ipilimumab, blocks the action of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4).

Explains Dr Tho: “This CTLA-4 inhibitor acts at the lymph node level. They basically cause the T-cells to be up-regulated.

“They are not specific (to the cancer), they turbocharge the T-cells, overwhelming the cancer with large forces.”

He adds that while ipilimumab, which is used to treat advanced melanoma, is not approved in Malaysia, it has been allowed to be used in certain cases.

Occasionally, our body’s T-cells do not even know that there is a cancer in the body as they cannot get to the tumour, due to various reasons.

In cases like this, Dr Tho says that radiotherapy comes in handy.

“Basically, you’re blasting it, you’re sending in a missile to kill the tumour cells, and in killing the tumour cells, the tumours release all these antigens, and these antigens are picked up by the T-cells, which now know who they are suppose to kill.

“This is why we now have a lot of studies combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy – this is the next wave.”

Caution needed

However, checkpoint inhibitors do not work in all situations.

For example, it does not work in NSCLC that have driver mutations like EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) and ROS1.

Dr Tho explains that a driver mutation is an oncogene that produces a protein all the time – it has no off switch.

“The normal proteins in our body, if it’s done its job, the body can send a negative feedback signal to say, ‘Ok, right, you’ve done your job, you can stop now.’.

“But these overactive proteins just keep working and working and never stop, and this causes the cancer to develop.”

He adds: “In those situations, immunotherapy doesn’t work. What you need is a treatment for that particular gene, to tell them to stop working.”

This treatment is known as targeted therapy.

Immunotherapy is also not without its side effects.

“The side effects of immunotherapy are basically ‘-itis’, which means inflammation, and it can happen in any part of the body, so that is a scary thing.

“We’ve had patients die from immunotherapy due to autoimmune lung damage, autoimmune liver damage, autoimmune gut damage.

“So, immunotherapy is not something benign, you can overstimulate the immune system to such an extent that it basically destroys the own body, so that is the caveat,” he explains.

Due to this, Dr Tho recommends that any doctor wanting to prescribe immunotherapy needs to be aware of how to manage its toxicities, adding that there are many guidelines available on this.

“So, I would say, if a hospital wants to embark on an immunotherapy programme, they must have a structure in which all the other clinicians are involved, so it’s not just oncology.

“So when a patient develops lung problems, they need the lung specialist to be involved; if they develop a liver problem, the gastroenterologist must be involved; if they develop skin problems, a dermatologist needs to be involved.

“And the accident and emergency doctors need to be aware that the symptoms the patient gets may be due to immunotherapy,” he says.

He shares that there have been certain cases where a cancer patient on immunotherapy has come in with a cough to the emergency department and been prescribed antibiotics.

“Then they go home and they die. Because they didn’t have a chest infection, what they were having was an autoimmune reaction – the right treatment is steroids,” he says.

“So this has to be disseminated throughout the whole hospital, not just the oncologists. We give patients alert cards, so that they know what they are on and can present it to the physician that they see.”

Dr Tho also notes that because immunotherapy is quite new in Malaysia, there are two things patients should be aware of.

One, that there are some unscrupulous people offering what purports to be immunotherapy, but is not – “they’re just trying to make a fast buck”.

And two, that there are doctors prescribing immunotherapy, who might not be trained to do so, and this can be very dangerous for patients due to the side effects.

Other immunotherapies

The tuberculosis vaccine is now also used as a cancer vaccine to prevent the recurrence of
early-stage bladder cancer.

The tuberculosis vaccine is now also used as a cancer vaccine to prevent the recurrence of early-stage bladder cancer.

While checkpoint inhibitors have proven to be the most successful form of immunotherapy, there are also other types of immunotherapy being developed.

Cytokines are proteins that are important in cell signalling and can affect the behaviour of other cells.

Cytokines like interferon-alpha have been used to treat kidney cancer, melanoma, multiple myeloma and certain types of leukaemia, while interleukin-2 has been used for kidney cancer.

However, Dr Tho says: “In kidney cancer, cytokine therapy such as interferon-alpha has largely been superceded by newer and more effective targeted agents (such as VEGF inhibitors) and checkpoint inhibitors.

“Older therapies such as high dose interleukin-2, even though associated with very good responses in some patients, resulted in significant side effects, and sometimes even ICU (intensive care unit) admissions and fatalities.”

Cancer vaccines are another form of immunotherapy under development.

Similar to how normal vaccines for infectious diseases stimulate the immune system to recognise the germs that cause these diseases and attack them, cancer vaccines stimulate the immune system to recognise certain cancer cells and attack them.

In fact, one familiar vaccine – the BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) vaccine for tuberculosis – has been repurposed to prevent recurrence in early-stage bladder cancer.

Dr Tho adds: “Limited success has been achieved with the vaccine sipuleucel-T, which is prostate cancer- specific, and talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), an oncolytic virus therapy, and both therapies are now approved by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration).”

However, various vaccines for lung cancer have failed at the clinical trial stage.

According to Dr Tho, the most innovative and exciting type of immunotherapy currently under development is adoptive cell therapy, specifically chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

This therapy involves removing the body’s own T-cells and genetically-engineering them to express a CAR that only fits a certain protein on the cancer cell.

With this specific recognition ability, the CAR-T cells can zoom in and kill the cancer cells when infused back into the patient.

“CAR-T cells have seen dramatic successes in haematological malignancies, especially acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and lymphomas. It’s science fiction come true!” he says.

Dr Tho adds that certain Malaysian cancer centres have collaborated with Singapore’s National Cancer Centre to offer the first-ever CAR-T cell therapy for advanced nasopharyngeal cancer patients, which is a disease prevalent in this region.

“The trial has completed recruitment in Malaysia and we are all eagerly awaiting the final results,” he says.

https://www.star2.com/health/2018/09/05/boosting-immune-system-treat-tumours

Children offered ‘game-changing’ NHS cancer treatment after funding deal

Children and young people with a form of leukaemia will have access to a groundbreaking treatment after NHS England secured a deal with the drug manufacturer.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018



Tisagenlecleucel, a form of chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell (CAR-T) therapy, has been shown to cure some patients with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

NHS patients will be the first in Europe to have routine access to the treatment, which costs £282,000 per patient at full list price, following the agreement with pharmaceutical company Novartis.

The deal comes less than 10 days after the therapy was granted European marketing authorisation and represents one of the fastest funding approvals in the history of the health service, NHS England said.

It will be announced by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, at the Health Innovation Expo in Manchester on Wednesday.

“CAR-T therapy is a true game changer, and NHS cancer patients are now going to be amongst the first in the world to benefit,” Mr Stevens will say.

“Today’s approval is proof-positive that, in our 70th year, the NHS is leading from the front on innovative new treatments.

“This constructive fast-track negotiation also shows how responsible and flexible life sciences companies can succeed – in partnership with the NHS – to make revolutionary treatments available to patients.”

Sorry, this content isn't available on your device.

CAR-T cell therapy is the most exciting advance in treatment for childhood leukaemia for decades

Dr Alasdair Rankin, Bloodwise

CAR-T therapy is a personalised treatment, which reprogrammes a patient’s immune system cells to target the cancer.

Tisagenlecleucel, also known as Kymriah, has been shown in trials to “cure” some patients, even those with advanced cancers who have not responded to other treatments, NHS England said.

The therapy is licensed for use in patients up to the age of 25 with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia that is refractory, in relapse post-transplant or in second or later relapse.

It has been approved for use by the National Institute for Care and Excellence (Nice) through the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund.

Three UK hospitals in London, Manchester and Newcastle are awaiting approval to provide CAR-T therapy and, if successful, could begin treating patients with Tisagenlecleucel within weeks, NHS England said.

Dr Alasdair Rankin, director of research at blood cancer charity Bloodwise, said: “CAR-T cell therapy is the most exciting advance in treatment for childhood leukaemia for decades.

“Intensive chemotherapy can now cure the vast majority of children but a significant number still tragically die every year because they do not respond to treatment.

“CAR-T cell therapy offers the genuine chance of a long-term cure for children who otherwise would have no other hope.”

Last updated Wed 5 Sep 2018

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-09-05/children-to-receive-cancer-treatment-on-nhs-after-funding-deal/

NHS to treat young cancer patients with expensive 'game changer' drug

The NHS is to treat children and young people with an expensive new cancer drug which has the potential to transform how the disease is treated.

Sarah Boseley Health editor 

37 mins ago

© PA Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive, will announce a deal with Novartis to provide the immunotherapy drug.

Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, will announce on Wednesday that a deal has been done with the drug company Novartis, which makes the immunotherapy drug under the name Kymriah.

How does CAR-T therapy work?

CAR-T therapy is a new type of immunotherapy. The novel idea is to collect T-cells from the blood of the patient and engineer them to recognise the cancerous cells that have been hiding in the body unnoticed and that they have failed to destroy.

T-cells are lymphocytes or white blood cells. They are key players in the immune system, moving around the body to attack infection and diseases. 

They should attack a cancer, but sometimes fail to identify cancerous cells as the threat they are. CAR-T therapy aims to teach the T-cells to recognise and attack the target. 

A child with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) which has returned in spite of a number of different treatments would be eligible for CAR-T therapy (CAR stands for chimeric antigen receptor and the T is for T-cell). 

The first step is to insert a tube in each arm. Blood is then withdrawn from one arm and T-cells are removed by passing it through an apheresis machine. The rest of the blood returns to the body through the tube in the other arm. 

In a lab, the T-cells are genetically engineered to recognise and target a specific protein on the cancer cells. The CAR-T cells, as the changed cells are now called, multiply in the lab, while the patient is given chemotherapy to kill off any remaining T-cells in the body.

Then the child is given a transfusion of CAR-T cells, which will hopefully attack and kill the cancer cells in the blood. 

The list price of the drug is £282,000 per patient and treatment costs for the NHS could double that. In the United States, the total cost of the therapy can reach $1m.

But Stevens and others have said this form of cancer treatment, known as CAR-T therapy, is the future. It works by genetically engineering the patient’s own immune system’s killer T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells.

“CAR-T therapy is a true game changer and NHS cancer patients are now going to be amongst the first in the world to benefit,” Stevens will say in a speech at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester.

However, only 15 to 20 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are expected to be eligible for the drug. It will be given only to those who have failed a series of earlier treatments, including stem cell transplants.

Kymriah has also been licensed to treat adults with a more common blood cancer, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but a decision is yet to be made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) on whether the NHS can afford it. The bill would be substantially higher because about 200 adults could be eligible. A similar drug for adults, Yescarta made by Gilead, has been turned down because of the cost, which is $373,000 (£290,000) in the US.

When Stevens revealed his intention to make CAR-T available to the NHS in April, he appealed to Novartis to reduce the price of Kymriah. Any discount that the manufacturer has offered is a commercial secret.

CAR-T therapy has to be developed for each patient. It involves taking blood and engineering the patient’s own immune system T-cells to recognise and fight the cancer before transfusing them back into the body.

There have been spectacular results in clinical trials, with response rates in blood cancer patients with advanced disease of over 80%. But there have also been deaths, when patients’ immune systems have overreacted to the therapy.

Alasdair Rankin, the director of research at the blood cancer charity Bloodwise, said he was very pleased that children and young adults would get the treatment. “It is very exciting for children with leukaemia,” he said.

This use of CAR-T therapy was “only the tip of the iceberg”, he said, and there were other cancers, from myeloma to solid tumours, that it could help. He likened the arrival of CAR-T therapy to that of radiotherapy, which transformed cancer treatment and substantially improved long-term outcomes.

Prof Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician, said: “It’s fantastic news for children and young people with this form of leukaemia that CAR-T cell therapy will be made available on the NHS, making them the first in Europe to have routine access to this exciting new type of immunotherapy. We applaud NHS England, Nice and the company for working together to make this immensely complex treatment available to patients quickly, through the Cancer Drugs Fund.”

The process of producing such a treatment is immensely complex but preparations are in their final stages, according to NHS England, and the first children could be treated within weeks. Three NHS hospitals are going through the international accreditation process for the provision of CAR-T therapy for children, in London, Manchester and Newcastle.

“Today’s approval is proof-positive that, in our 70th year, the NHS is leading from the front on innovative new treatments,” Stevens will say. “This constructive fast-track negotiation also shows how responsible and flexible life sciences companies can succeed – in partnership with the NHS – to make revolutionary treatments available to patients.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nhs-to-treat-young-cancer-patients-with-expensive-game-changer-drug/

New cell therapy offers hope of a leukaemia cure

Early trial of pioneering treatment eradicated the disease in 94% of cases

• Procedure is administered during three or four hospital outpatient appointments
• It has shown particular promise for leukaemia and blood cancers

By Sophie Borland Health Editor In Chicago For The Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 01:03, 7 June 2017 | UPDATED: 01:11, 7 June 2017

A revolutionary cancer treatment that alters the body’s cells so they attack tumours has offered hope of a cure.

The procedure is administered during three or four hospital outpatient appointments which last up to four hours each.

It has shown particular promise for leukaemia and blood cancers which collectively affect 30,000 new patients in the UK each year.

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Mike Brandon, 32, is now disease free after having CAR-T cell therapy last summer. He is pictured with his partner, Kate

Early trials presented at the world’s largest cancer conference showed that treatment was able to eradicate all traces of cancer for almost all patients.

Known as CAR-T cell therapy, it involves doctors taking a sample of blood and then genetically altering the body’s own killer cells.

These cells are then injected back into the body whereupon they multiply and start attacking the tumours.

One trial presented to the American Society for Clinical Oncology Conference in Chicago showed that it had eradicated tumours in eight out of nine patients.

The patients had an aggressive type of leukaemia which is considered incurable – chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Yet six months after receiving the cell treatment they still have no traces of the disease in their bodies.

Dr Saar Gill, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who lead the trial, said he hoped they would remain cancer-free ‘forever.’

‘Our hope is that this disease is so deeply in remission that it never comes back.’

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A second trial showed that the treatment eradicated leukaemia in 33 out of 35 patients – 94 per cent

A second trial showed that the treatment eradicated leukaemia in 33 out of 35 patients – 94 per cent.

These patients had multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, and were followed for two months after their treatment.

Dr Wanhong Zhao, the lead author from the Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China, said that the treatment may offer ‘a chance for a cure in multiple myeloma.’

‘We will need to follow patients much longer to confirm that.’

Leukaemia, which affects the bone marrow, and myeloma, a blood cancer, are particularly hard to treat as unlike solid cancer tumours like breast and prostate they cannot be surgically removed.

About half of patients do not survive beyond five years and many of those who live longer have to take drugs for the rest of their lives.

These trials have offered hope that a one-off treatment – administered over three or four hospital visits – could offer a permanent cure.

The procedure is a form of immunotherapy, a class of drugs or treatment which involve teaching the body to fight the cancer itself.

They have been hailed as the ‘new era’ of cancer treatment and have shown particular success for harder to treat tumours.

CANCER-FREE AFTER JUST FIVE MONTHS

Mike Brandon, 32, is now disease free after having CAR-T cell therapy last summer.

He was only able to have the breakthrough procedure after his wife Kate raised more than £450,000 through a social media campaign.

Mr Brandon, from Bristol, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in January 2014.

The illness was so advanced that his consultant told him that ‘all NHS routes were exhausted.’

He began CAR-T therapy in May at the University of Pennsylvania, and in October announced that he was cancer-free.

Mrs Brandon said at the time: ‘We have more tests ahead but, right now, we couldn’t be happier.

‘Prior to starting the trial, Mike’s bone marrow was made up of 90 per cent leukaemia cells and he was given weeks to live but thanks to the cutting edge CAR T-cell therapy he received in the US he is now cancer free.’

When launching the campaign, she had described her husband as a ‘kind, sincere and witty’ man who ‘deserved to have a chance at living life.’  

The procedure is currently only being developed by a handful of hospitals around the world, including the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

But charities hope that the success of these trials will result in the treatment becoming much more widespread.

Dr Áine McCarthy, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said the results were ‘promising.’

‘Modifying cells from a patient’s own immune system and using them to treat cancer, called CAR-T cell therapy, has been showing potential in leukaemia and lymphoma in recent years.’

Dr Alasdair Rankin, Director of Research at the blood cancer research charity Bloodwise, said the findings were ‘clearly very promising.’

‘More follow-up time and further studies will be needed to establish whether its effects are long-lasting and if a wider range of patients could benefit from this specific approach.’ 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4579164/New-cell-therapy-offers-hope-leukaemia-cure.html

Colorectal Cancer: At last...the no side effect cancer drug

A breakthrough drug that mimics human immune cells is boosting survival chances of patients with incurable bowel cancer.

By Martyn Halle For The Mail On Sunday

PUBLISHED: 22:43, 24 June 2017 | UPDATED: 22:52, 24 June 2017

Specialist are hailing it as the first life-extending cancer drug without significant side effects.

The new drug may mean that those with advanced disease no longer have to make the ‘quantity versus quality’ trade-off – either having gruelling chemotherapy in the hope of extending life, or concentrating on best enjoying their last remaining days.

Normally patients lose weight, suffer fatigue, nausea, anaemia, lack of energy and suffer pain as a result of cancer treatment. 

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Normally patients lose weight, suffer fatigue, nausea, anaemia, lack of energy and suffer pain as a result of cancer treatment

But Xilonix leaves patients feeling ‘unbelievably well’, say experts.

The drug is a synthetic version of a human immune system cell known as an antibody that is naturally present in 20 per cent of the population and gives a degree of protection against bowel cancer.

Because the drug targets cancer cells rather than indiscriminately attacking the rest of the body, it causes far fewer side effects.

Results from a British trial of 309 patients showed that Xilonix arrested the growth of tumours and those on it experienced fewer symptoms. The trial also indicated that the so-called monoclonal antibody treatment would help some patients live longer.

Oncologist Tamas Hickish, from Bournemouth Hospital, who led the trial, said: ‘I have never come across a cancer drug for advanced cancer that has almost zero side effects.’

And Dr Mark Sanders, an oncologist at The Christie hospital in Manchester, explained: ‘This drug latches on to the cancer and doesn’t affect the rest of the body.’

Ray Pollicott, 74, tried the experimental new drug after being told in 2015 that his cancer had spread so far he probably had only a few months to live. He said: ‘I am amazed at how well I’ve felt. I’ve been on five-mile walks and at times was almost able to forget I had cancer.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4635768/DIY-kit-given-patients-bowel-cancer-tests.html

'Cancer-fighting' berry in Australian rainforests: EBC-46

World-first human trials of an extract from a berry found in Australian rainforests that is thought to help cure cancer.  Doctors have begun human trials after promising results from tests on animals.

Thursday, 18 August 2016 3:28PM

The seed extract was found to eradicate different types of cancers within seven days.

Denise Powell is one of the cancer sufferers who has joined the trial in Queensland.

She has a tumour in her armpit which is getting progressively worse.

“My cancer surgeon said, ‘I can take that one out, if you get any more you might lose an arm.”

Doctors injected the trial drug directly into the tumour.

“In less than 20 minutes the tumour had gone purple then black,” Denise said.

“Then within a couple of days the tumour just kind of shriveled up and dies.

When EBC-46 is injected it triggers and immune response, activating white blood cells to attack the tumour and shrink it to nothing.

“If this rainforest remedy is found to be safe and effective, it could offer a whole new treatment option for cancer patients, especially the elderly who can’t face another round of chemo or go back under the knife,” Channel 7 medical expert Dr Andrew Rochford said.

The company developing the trial, QBiotics, said the tumour types successfully treated so far in animals included mast cell tumours, melanomas, squamous cell carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, soft tissue sarcomas, myxosarcomas, nasosinal facial ulcerations and equine sarcoids.

https://thewest.com.au/news/cancer-fighting-berry-in-australian-rainforests-ng-ya-273188?r=1

Nature’s Solution

A blog by veterinarian Jane Miller - Yahoo7 on June 13, 2010, 6:20 pm

Nature’s Solution

I am a regular general veterinary practitioner who has found herself in an exciting situation, where I have been asked to be involved in a new method of treating cancer.

I have no oncology training, but I have certainly seen many animals treated with current chemotherapy and radiation techniques.

The EBC 46 may never replace these proven cancer-fighting methods, however, I believe it will certainly play an important role in the treatment of certain cancers, suffered by not only dogs and cats, but other animals as well.

I was very sceptical when I was first approached regarding running small animal trials. However, my doubts as to the validity of the EBC 46 were squashed almost immediately.

As with all experimental trials, a new drug/compound cannot be trialled on animals with the option of current standard therapies. So, especially in the initial stages of the trial, we were treating on animals that had already had surgery and chemotherapy, and animals that had inoperable tumours. Many were at the end stage of their disease, and the option was either euthanasia or to trial this treatment.

Because of these beginnings, my first impression was the incredible improvement to the quality of life experienced by animals treated with the EBC 46. Not all animals had a significant reduction in tumour size, but nearly all the animals experienced an improved zest for life.

If this was the limit of the EBC 46’s abilities then, with this effect alone, I believe it will play a huge role in palliative care.

However, as the trials went on and more animals were being treated, I was witnessing more and more impressive results.

Whilst I would never say that this is going to cure all cancer, I will say I have seen some incredible, almost unbelievable results.

As cancer is such an emotive issue I feel it is important that it is understood that all cancer-fighting treatments have limitations. At this stage EBC 46 has only been used on cutaneous, sub cutaneous oral, and nasal tumours. We have not treated metastatic (distant) disease, so in these cases it would be used more as a palliative therapy. With the primary masses, the hope is always complete resolution of the tumour, but we consider any improvement in quality of life a success.

My hope is that veterinarians around Australia have the EBC 46 on their drug room shelf by the end of 2011. It would be great to know that we have yet another effective anti-cancer compound available to use in our fight against cancer.

For all those other sceptics (remember I was one initially also), imagine how easy it would have been to discount Fleming and his discovery that mould could be used to kill bacterial infections. Amazing things come from nature.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/a/7385485/nature-s-solution/#page1

Nature's Solution

Dr John D'Arcy - Sunday Night on June 13, 2010, 6:20 pm

Nature's Solution

Over the years of reporting about health and wellness I have become a little bit sceptical of what are called "breakthroughs".

Things which are presented are often not "break throughs" and it has become so important to base my comments on the solid evidence which surrounds a health development.

When I heard of a couple of CSIRO scientists living on the edge of a rainforest on the Atherton tableland who had discovered a medication from the rainforest which attacked cancer cells but left normal cells alone, I was doubtful.

My attitude changed when I met Dr Victoria Gordon and Dr Paul Reddell at their home and laboratory, just on the edge of the tropical forest. They were aware that for over a decade, an international drug company had searched the forest for potential medications, spending millions of dollars in so doing and had come up with nothing.

They were concerned about conservation and that the ribbon of rainforest was all that remained of a jungle which had successfully evolved over one hundred million years.

A rainforest which had not only allowed plants to survive but had encouraged them to constantly evolve. Dr Reddell described it as the "Pharmacy of the Future".

Sadly, farmers had cut the forest away and transformed the jungle into treeless pasture, not only obliterating the huge variety of plants but the equal number of animals which used the wet foliage as home.

Unlike the pharmaceutical company in the past, the two scientists became eco–detectives, learning as much about the forest and its tricks of survival as they could.

Amongst many things they discovered was that when the fruit of the brushwood tree fell to the ground, it was collected by a marsupial, taken away to a safe place and eaten.

The nut was discarded away from its parent tree, it seeded and grew into another plant but far enough away it didn’t rob its parent of nutriment. Both became jungle survivors.

They wondered why the marsupial didn’t like the nut so they tested it. Its taste was unpleasant and inside they discovered 500 chemicals. Each was studied chemically and can you imagine their surprise when one morning they discovered that a chemical they called EBC-46, dissolved tumour cells when left over night in a petri dish.

EBC-46 has been highly refined and is now being tested on tumours of animals that are so old that surgical removal is not indicated and may actually kill them - and the results have been excellent.

EBC-46 works this way. Cancer forms all the time in our bodies and if we are healthy, our defence or immune system attacks the tiny abnormal cells and destroys them so we stay cancer free.

Cancer develops when the power of its cells hone down the cascade of immune cells and chemicals which allows the cancer cells to multiply.

EBC reverses that and reinvigorates the white blood cells trapped in the tumour, and what's more, creates what is called "a neutrophil storm", dragging powerful white cells from outside the tumour and into the cancer cell to devour it.

The amazing fact is that all normal cells are left alone and there are no apparent side effects on them.

In normal chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer, both normal and cancer cells are destroyed and it's a delicate equation to decide how much of the therapy to use so that an excess of cancer cells die.

Both therapies have side effects.

I have seen the results from animal studies for myself and I was so impressed I asked a Cancer Specialist who manages the biggest cancer therapy unit in Australia, to assess this new discovery.

He too was also impressed by the animal trials but says human cancers may be different to those which animals suffer.

The only way to appreciate the effect of EBC-46 on human cancer cells is to carry out clinical trials over many years and carefully assess the results.

None the less, the discovery of EBC-46 not only indicates the importance of conserving our forests for the future so that more medications may be discovered, but offers hope that there will be a new option for humans with cancer.

Despite the interest in EBC-46 it's so important not to offer "false hope". Human studies, planned to begin next year will take time and will be rigorous and it will take 5-7 years to develop.

Nonetheless, all journeys start with the first step but that step has already been taken.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/a/7391633/natures-solution/#page1

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Could the rainforest hold cure for cancer?

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Sunday Night Published October 13th, 12:01 pm

Sunday Night's Dr John D'Arcy investigates the "break-through" drug EBC-46 that may change the way cancer is treated in the future.

CLICK on the link below to watch the above video:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/watch/26332022/could-the-rainforest-hold-cure-for-cancer/#page1

See Also:

 Is EBC-46 (aka blushwood) as a cancer treatment a hoax?