[teacozy]

<p>Just saw this linked on facebook.  Really interesting. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/259155541.html" target="_blank">http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/259155541.html</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>"<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Stacy Erholtz was out of conventional treatment options for blood cancer last June when she underwent an experimental trial at the Mayo Clinic that injected her with enough measles vaccine to inoculate 10 million people.</span></p>
<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);margin-bottom:15px;">The 50-year-old Pequot Lakes mother is now part of medical history.</p>
<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);margin-bottom:15px;">The cancer, which had spread widely through her body, went into complete remission and was undetectable in Erholtz’s body after just one dose of the measles vaccine, which has an uncanny affinity for certain kinds of tumors." </p>
<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);margin-bottom:15px;">Kind of validates Paul Offit's infamous statement that a person could theoretically receive 10,000 vaccines and still be fine that so many people criticized.  She received over 1,000 times that amount! </p>
<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);margin-bottom:15px;"> </p>

 

[sciencemum]

Yeah I saw that news and was intrigued, but haven't had time to look into it. How is it supposed to work? Was this MMR or single measles?<br><br>
Wonder if there's any link to the observed anti-correlation between mumps and breast cancer....?

 

[teacozy]

<div class="quote-container" data-huddler-embed="/community/t/1401996/mayo-clinic-trial-massive-blast-of-measles-vaccine-wipes-out-cancer#post_17629578" data-huddler-embed-placeholder="false">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>prosciencemum</strong> <a href="/community/t/1401996/mayo-clinic-trial-massive-blast-of-measles-vaccine-wipes-out-cancer#post_17629578"><img alt="View Post" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
Yeah I saw that news and was intrigued, but haven't had time to look into it. How is it supposed to work? Was this MMR or single measles?<br><br>
Wonder if there's any link to the observed anti-correlation between mumps and breast cancer....?</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p>I haven't had time to really look at it either but as far as how it works this is what the article said: </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:13px;line-height:1.5em;">Researchers have known for decades that viruses can be used to destroy cancer. They bind to tumors and use them as hosts to replicate their own genetic material; the cancer cells eventually explode and release the virus. Antiviral vaccines that have been rendered safe can produce the same effects and can also be modified to carry radioactive molecules to help destroy cancer cells without causing widespread damage to healthy cells around the tumors. The body’s immune system then attacks any remaining cancer that carries remnants of the vaccine’s genetic imprint.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:13px;">Most people have been inoculated with the vaccine, rendering it vulnerable to their immune systems. But patients with multiple myeloma often have suppressed immune systems, which can allow the virus to do its work.</span></p>
<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);margin-bottom:15px;"> </p>
<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);margin-bottom:15px;">The normal dose of vaccine contains 10,000 infectious units of the measles virus, Russell said. Mayo started out giving patients 1 million infectious units and gradually cranked up the dosage — but it didn’t work until Erholtz and another patient were injected with 100 billion infectious units, he said." </p>

 

[fisherfamily]

<p>That is absolutely fascinating.  Imagine if chemo could be replaced with the measles vaccine.  Wow.  (And I don't vax my kids, btw, but would absolutely pick a vax over chemo any day.)</p>

 

[ss834]

<p>This is so interesting. The one drawback they mention for the second patient, who didn't go into remission, she probably won't be able to get a second dose because of an immune response to the virus. So they have to figure out a way to deliver the virus "under the radar" of the immune system if they want to give repeated doses.</p>

 

[mamapigeon]

<p>Ooh, very interesting! I just beat a type of blood cancer (Hodgkin's) with chemo. I definitely would have preferred a massive vaccine dose. It will be interesting to see what happens with further research.</p>

 

[Serenity Now]

<p>This is definitely the future of cancer treatments. It's been known for a long time that the only way to effectively kill cancer is to use our own immune system or a virus to do it. The question is, how?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I read a good common sense write up on how this works. Apparently, they can grow viruses in a cell line that acts like a tumor. The cells produce a protein that the virus likes, so when given a choice between a regular cell, and a tumor, the virus will choose the tumor. Then you just introduce the virus systemically, voila. It goes to work killing cancer cells. They just happened to choose the measles virus, but they are working on other viruses to do the same thing. Hopefully ones that we are not already immune to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>From what I understand, the radioactivity they introduced into the virus was just put there so the viruses could be tracked via CT, it was the virus lyseing the cells that did the work. And the side effects were not a walk in the park, either. They had fevers of 105, high heart rate, low blood pressure, head aches and vomiting. But, sadly, the patient reported that it was the easiest treatment she'd had so far. This is still early stages, but as someone who is at a significant risk of cancer at a young age due to family history, I'm hopeful that by the time I'm at the "cancer age" in my family, this will be the standard cure. I foresee that being able to cure cancer is going to be the next major public health improvement, much like the polio vaccine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And contrary to some things I have read, it wasn't the fever that killed the cancer. Many patients in the very last stages of cancer have what they call the cancer fever. So many healthy cells are dying so quickly that it causes a fever, but does not kill the cancer. The virus itself was lyseing the cells, and killing the cancer cells, not the fever.</p>