Cancer Destroyed by Antibody 'Triple Whammy'

Love those scientific medical terms like "triple whammy". :-) From NewScientist.com:

A new cancer therapy using a "triple whammy" of antibodies has shown unprecedented success in mice. Not only does the treatment destroy tumours – even when they have spread around the body – it also prevents the tumours coming back. And the approach should work for a range of cancers.

Success in mice is far from a guarantee of success in people, but human trials have now begun on one component of the therapy.

The research, by scientists in Australia and Japan, is “an exciting advance”, according to cancer biologist Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania, US: “This novel form of therapeutic vaccination would not only enable potent tumour eradication but also protect from recurrence.”

The idea of using the body’s immune system to kill cancerous cells is already routinely deployed. Our immune system contains killer white blood cells called cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), which single out and destroy tumours. But the body’s natural response to cancerous cells is often not strong enough to wipe out the tumour.

The new therapy, called TrimAb (triple monoclonal antibody) therapy, may solve that problem. Mark Smyth, at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Australia, Kazuyoshi Takeda, at the Juntendo University School of Medicine in Japan, and colleagues used a cocktail of three different antibodies.

The first attacks the tumour directly, by stimulating the receptor for a death-inducing protein on tumour cells, called TRAIL. The boost that strengthens the response comes from the other two antibodies which activate killer T-cells that pitch in to kill the tumour.

TrimAb cleared large breast tumours in 80% of the mice that received the treatment, while the tumour disappeared in less than 30% of mice that got either single antibodies or double antibody combinations. And furthermore, the therapy induced a complete cure in 60% of the mice in which the breast cancer had spread to the lungs, liver, and brain.

TrimAb causes T-cells to produce an immune molecule named interferon gamma. “This molecule is key to tumour destruction”, Smyth told New Scientist. While TrimAb elicited the killer molecule in the lymph nodes of treated mice, treatments with a single or a pair of antibodies did not. “TrimAb also recruits a higher frequency of CTLs to attack the tumour,” he adds.

Many cancers express TRAIL, so TrimAb is not just specific for breast cancers. In particular, says Smyth, it works for renal cancer and sarcomas, and colon cancer is a promising target.

TrimAb prevents the recurrence of cancer because destroying the tumours presents the immune system with antigens, priming it for the future. A specific advantage of this is that the immune system is then primed against that particular tumour.

Three antibody combinations have never been used in patients to treat cancers, says Smyth. Although the combination was non-toxic to mice, careful pilot testing of each component and combination needs to be done in human trials, he cautions. The team is now awaiting results of Phase I trials involving humanised anti-TRAIL antibodies.

And I Would Walk One Hundred Miles...

Have I mentioned that I climbed the CN Tower recently?

Discussing this with a co-worker of mine the other day, she told me about what her father-in-law does. The dude walks from Ottawa (or maybe Gatineau, on the Quebec side, I'm not certain) to close to Montreal. It's something referred to as the "Pélerinage Chemin des Centenaires". That's difficult to translate, but the point is that it's a pilgrimage. In total, it's 223 kilometres (about 139 miles) over the course of 12 days. He's doing it again this year, starting June 11th and and reaching his destination on the 22nd.

Fairly impressive in itself.

Then you're told he's 87 years old.

Man, I love that to death. I recall an older gentleman at my previous gym who used to pound the treadmill until sweat dripped from his elbows. Tell me that doesn't push you into going an extra few minutes on your own machine.

Feel Free to Join the 21st Century.

A Spanish assistant bullfighter is tossed by a bull during San Isidro's bullfighting fair at Madrid's Las Ventas bullring May 12, 2006. Madrid celebrates its patron saint San Isidro every year with a fair which includes cultural events and concerts, as well as three weeks of bullfights.REUTERS/Andrea Comas

Ah, bullfighting! A brilliant display of...well...to what lengths people will use "tradition" as an excuse for committing acts of cruelty (above) and/or idiocy (the running of the bulls). But at least in the case of my pink sock-wearing friend here, it looks like reproduction may not be in the immediate future.

"Honey! What socks should I wear for my bullfight today?"
"Oh, I don't know, sweetie! Go with the pink! They make your 'stache look all fluffy!"

Something to Sink your Choppers Into

The first person to surprise me in terms of being into this whole "green" stuff was Woody Harrelson. Here's #2.

That reminds me, I don't believe they've selected the hottest vegetarian yet. At least, I didn't get a phone call. will investigate.

LONG BEACH — You won't find any cat burgers or mystery soups at this greasy spoon.

Long Beach motorcycle builder Jesse James, of West Coast Choppers fame, is expanding his
modest blue-collar business empire into fast food with the opening of an earth-friendly
hamburger joint featuring prime beef, organic veggies and biodegradable wrapping.

"I wanted something you could eat everyday and not feel like (garbage) afterwards," said
James, who attended the eatery's grand opening Friday with actress wife Sandra Bullock.

"We're offering something a little healthier with better cuts of meat. You can eat it and not feel
like you're getting all fat and sick."

Cisco Burger, at 620 W. Anaheim St., is located just east of James' West Coast Choppers
complex, where the 37-year-old films "Monster Garage" for cable TV's Discovery Channel.
The show features James and a crew of rotating motorheads building one-of-a-kind vehicles
like a police cruiser/mobile doughnut maker and a Chevy Suburban/wedding chapel. The
restaurant, which features preservative and hormone-free Kobe beef burgers, low-fat burritos
and organic toppings and dairy, is powered by solar panels on the roof and employs about 30
full-and part-time workers, James said.

Cisco, named after James' sharp-toothed pet pit bull, is reminiscent of a 1950s-era burger stand
with stainless steel seat posts, open grill, tile flooring and neon outdoor sign. The site is
located next to a former railroad right-of-way which is being converted by the city into a
greenbelt park.

"We're expecting pretty good business from the neighborhood people and from all the workers
on the Westside and in the port," James said. "We'll wait and see how it does."

Not Gonna Happen.

Received from the PETA.

The sign of Satan is less than a month away (6/6/06), and there’s no better time to plan a wicked demo to show people in your city how hellish life is for chickens who are killed for KFC! One easy idea is to get a Satan costume (even a red suit with horns would work) and stand outside your local KFC for an hour while holding a sign that says, “KFC Is Hell for Chickens.” PETA even has evil Colonel Sanders masks that you could wear as well as signs that say, “Colonel Sanders Is Satan to Chickens.” The possibilities are as endless as your imagination!

I understand that at times, you have to talk REAL LOUDLY to be heard. But I think there's a line you cross where you just come off looking like such a jackass that your message gets lost. I'll leave you to decide where this one fits for you, but I know I've made up my mind.

I'm reminded of a co-worker telling me about seeing two topless women a couple of blocks away from where I work protesting against fur. Now I admire on the one hand that they'd use the most powerful weapons on Earth (boobies) to state their case, but on the other hand, how many people (well...guys) remember what they were out there for? I'm willing to bet that a significant portion of the male population that laid eyes on those two will not recall that they were protesting against fur, and if they do recall it, it won't be a part of the story when they tell their buds.

Or, for that matter, when they post the ladies' pictures on the internet. Cameras on phones now. Ain't technology grand?

Yay! Here's me!

They've finally added my picture to the WWF photo mosaic. I'm part of a leaf, for the time being, but they warn that...

As the mosaic is being continually updated, the position of your picture can change. However, the link above will always to lead you directly to your photo.

I expect that as my international fame continues to grow, I'll get some better real estate on that thing, like an eyeball or a fang or something. A fang would be cool.

So for those of you who don't know me, I'm the dude directly above the giant cat head.

Red River Hogs

In a photo provided by the San Diego Zoo, two male red river hogs make their debut Monday, May 1, 2006, at the San Diego Zoos Wild Animal Park. The piglets and their parents can be seen in the Nairobi Village. The red river hog is found in Africa. It is named for its reddish brown fur, and the fact that it often wades through water. These pigs are active both day and night and are good swimmers, holding their tails above the water. They can also swim underwater, catching a breath every 15 seconds or so. (AP Photo/The San Diego Zoo, Ken Bohn)

EPA's Top 10 List of Retail Green-Power Partners

Source: Greenbiz.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the most recent national Top 10 Retail Partners list highlighting the largest retail purchases of renewable energy by members of its Green Power Partnership. The list reflects renewable energy purchases made through March 27, 2006.

The actions of the Top 10 Retail Partners help drive the development of new renewable energy sources of electricity generation. Combined, the green power purchases of the Top 10 Retail Partners amount to over 877,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of green power annually. This is enough renewable energy to power approximately 82,000 average U.S. homes per year or is equivalent to removing the emissions of 107,000 cars from the road annually.

The Top 10 Retail Green Power Partners, listed in descending order of purchase size, are as follows:

1. Whole Foods Market (463,128 MWh)
   
2. Starbucks (150,000 MWh)
   
3. Safeway Inc. (87,000 MWh)
   
4. Staples (49,456 MWh)
   
5. FedEx Kinko's (40,6000 MWh)
   
6. HEB Grocery Company/Austin Region Operations (27,000 MWh)
   
7. Liz Claiborne Inc./N.J. Corporate Headquarters (25,000 MWh)
   
8. prAna (16,500 MWh)
   
9. Lowe's Home Centers in N.C., N.M., S.C., Tenn., Texas (16,500 MWh)
   
10. MOM’s - My Organic Market (1,488 MWh)

"We're Looking for a Lifeboat"

Those of you who read semi-regularly may remember a post I made about The Isaac Foundation a little while back. I still hear from a couple of Isaac's relatives due to a common interest and stay more or less "in the loop" as a result.

Imagine my surprise though, while in Toronto for the climb, to come across a story about young Isaac on the front page of the Globe and Mail. Lisa Priest wrote an excellent, comprehensive article which can be read in full at the link provided. That the family may be forced to move to England in order to deal with this with is baffling and embarassing.

The parents of Isaac McFadyen have two choices. They can move to England where a drug to treat their son's rare disease is funded by government — at a staggering cost of $300,000 to $1-million per patient annually — or they can stay in Canada and watch him be ravaged by the inherited metabolic disorder.

The two-year-old Ontario boy is already suffering from the effects of Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome: a piece of his skull and a portion of vertebrae in his neck were removed earlier this month after they began compressing his spinal cord. Isaac's corneas are clouding, his forehead protrudes and he has an umbilical hernia.

The only drug available to treat the progressive disease, known by the trade name Naglazyme, is so expensive that even its U.S.-based developer and manufacturer, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., acknowledges no patient can afford it.

“For the average citizen, no matter what country you are in, it's impossible to pay for this out of pocket,” Steve Aselage, senior vice-president of global commercial operations for BioMarin, said in an interview from Novato, Calif. “For most of the world, you need the government to step up and pay for the product.”

The drug is used to treat mucopolysaccharidosis type VI, or MPS VI for short, a disease so rare it's estimated only three to 10 Canadians have it. In developed countries, there are an estimated 1,100 sufferers, virtually all of whom will experience severe disability and shortened life spans.

In most countries where Naglazyme is licensed, such as those in the European Union, governments cover the drug's cost. In the United States, it is largely funded by private insurance.

But in Canada, there is no policy for “orphan drugs” like Naglazyme — medications for rare diseases, the incidence of which varies by country — and no way for people like the McFadyens to afford such costly therapies.

The EU, the United States, Japan, and Australia all have some form of orphan-drug policy. While the U.S. policy doesn't necessarily provide access to rare drugs, it has been successful in providing incentives to pharmaceutical companies to find treatments for rare diseases.

Whether it involves fast-tracking drugs for rare diseases, providing tax incentives for pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments, or extending market exclusivity for drug manufacturers, these countries have found ways to deal with a problem that threatens small numbers of people in the most devastating of ways.

People with MPS VI, for example, are missing an enzyme called arylsulfatase B, needed to break down carbohydrates known as glycosaminoglycans. The carbohydrate builds up in the body's cells and many organs are affected.

Signs of the disease include stunted growth, enlarged tonsils and adenoids that cause breathing problems, poor mobility, and dramatic changes in facial features, including a flat nose and large head. Once sufferers reach their teens, they often require heart-valve surgery.

In England, a national advisory group aims to help health-care providers by assuring a cash flow to support rare and expensive treatments. The group has approved the funding of Naglazyme and a small group of patients recently began receiving weekly intravenous treatments in London and Manchester.
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“Canadian patients with rare diseases are the last people in the developed world to gain access to drugs,” said Kirsten Harkins, executive director of The Canadian Society for Mucopolysaccharide and Related Diseases Inc.

“There are no clear policy guidelines in terms of licensing or funding them in Canada.”

That could change in June, when a report on expensive drugs for rare diseases is to be presented at a meeting of Canada's health ministers, marking the first time the country has attempted to deal with the orphan-drug issue.

“The important thing for the really expensive drugs is that we have a national approach,” said Bob Nakagawa, assistant deputy minister for pharmacare for British Columbia, whose government is co-chairing the task force in June with Health Canada.

“If [provinces] have different standards, then do we force patients to move to the province that covers them? Is that something we want people to do?”

In the case of the McFadyen family, it isn't just a case of travelling to another province but of uprooting their idyllic life in the town of Campbellford, Ont., and crossing the Atlantic with young Isaac and their five-month-old son, Gabriel.

Andrew McFadyen, a 28-year-old elementary school teacher in Kingston, and his wife, Ellen Buck-McFadyen, a public health nurse, feel they have no choice but to look for employment overseas to get treatment for their son, Isaac.

“We're optimistic that even with the limitations he's had, they aren't affecting his quality of life,” said Ms. Buck-McFadyen, 28. “We have to get him on the enzyme-replacement therapy, at least to slow down the progression of the disease.”

Because Mr. McFadyen is eligible for British citizenship through his Welsh mother, he only needs to find a job in England and maintain residency for a period of time for young Isaac to receive the drug, where it is currently offered in specialized centres in London and Manchester.

Even though the overseas move is onerous, the couple feels lucky that, unlike others, they at least have a shot at being able to obtain treatment for Isaac.

They are making plans to move to England this summer, taking their infant son and his sandy-haired, high-spirited big brother, Isaac, with them.

“We're looking for a life boat,” Mr. McFadyen said. “We're just so sure that we're going to get him on this enzyme replacement therapy and it's going to help. If we spent any real time thinking about it, it would be terrifying.”

While Naglazyme can technically be obtained under Health Canada's special-access program, patients are still faced with having to cover its enormous costs. No hospital or provincial government funds it. Under the special-access program, patients with serious or life-threatening conditions can obtain unlicensed drugs when conventional therapies fail, are unsuitable or are unavailable, so long as no licensed alternative is available.

No Animals Were Harmed in the Writing of this Post.

Press release from the API:

The Animal Protection Institute (API) today announces the launch of its new consumer-driven campaign to combat the misleading animal testing labeling practices by the cosmetics industry.
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Recognizing that consumers wish to avoid animal testing when shopping for cosmetics, many companies label their products as “not tested on animals” but, sadly, those claims can be misleading. “Not tested on animals” may only refer to the final product, not its ingredients, or the company itself may not test their products on animals, but may pay someone else to do it.
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API is leading a national initiative to educate consumers and animal advocates nationwide to bring to light misleading labeling by cosmetics companies and empower the public to make ethical choices when shopping, by supporting only those companies that are signed up to the Leaping Bunny program — the only internationally recognized standard that guarantees that products are free from animal testing.

API’s campaign includes the launch of a cosmetics dedicated website — www.CompassionateConsumer.com. Packed with educational materials, resources, and shopping tools, the website will empower concerned consumers like you to make ethical choices when shopping.