2018: The Year We Cured Cancer. Stanford researchers develop cancer 'vaccine' that eliminates tumors in 90 out of 90 mice.
An article in the Stanford Medicine News Center has gone viral on Reddit today, after reporting that a 'vaccine' developed by researchers at the Standford University School of Medicine is capable of eliminating all traces of cancer in mice, and that human trials have begun.
Ronald Levy (left) and Idit Sagiv-Barfi (right). Image source
Redditors appeared to by sceptical initially (as you would expect, particularly from redditors), but after a number of pleas from other users to "just read the damn article for once in your life", it seems that the crowd have come to accept that this is not "just another time we cured cancer in mice".
The TLDR, provided by /u/Robobvious, is as follows:
TL;DR Two immune stimulating agents injected into the tumors of mice eliminated all traces of cancer as well as distant, untreated metastases. 87 of 90 mice were cured of the cancer.
Although the cancer returned in three mice, they again regressed after a second treatment.
The researchers saw similar results in mice bearing breast, colon, and melanoma tumors. Treating the first tumor that arose often prevented the occurrence of future tumors.
One agent is already approved for human use and the other has been tested in other unrelated clinical trials. A clinical trial was launched in January to test the effect of the treatment in patients with lymphoma.
There are a few things I find damned amazing about this:
It can attack pretty much any type of cancer
Once the tumor is killed near where the agents are injected, these super-charged T-Cells go out hunting for cancer cells all throughout the body
One of the agents is already approved for human use, meaning it's going to be a lot easier for this to get to mainstream medical treatment.
Just think - in a few years we could be living in a world where if you get cancer, all you need to cure it is an injection.
Time go suntan, because fuck you melanoma!!