hope on the horizon

Discussion Board Forums New Developments hope on the horizon

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  • #19017
    tanoland
    Member

    That is so weird to read. I read every post on here looking for something for my sister and when I read your dad had shingles, that is exactly how we found out my sister had this horrible disease. She had a pain in her side and they thought it was shingles. Unfortunately it was a tumor on her liver.

    #19016
    jenny
    Member

    Thanks Karen

    Jenny

    #19015
    karen
    Spectator

    Jenny,
    So sorry for your quick loss. I agree with the problem of no early detection. It is so startling to find how advanced the disease is when diagnoses is made. I wish you strength as you go through your grieving.
    Karen

    #19014
    jenny
    Member

    Hi everyone,

    I live in Australia and my husband died in February from cholangeocarcinoma just 3 months after diagnosis. No one can tell us how he got it as it is supposed to be so rare in the western world. It is a shame that earlier detection isn’t available. He first felt sick when he got the shingles and then his skin and eyes went yellow. By then it was too late. He only lived a couple of months after that. He was 57.

    Jenny

    #19013
    peter
    Member

    Jules,
    Nice to see your name pop up. I’ve been thinking about you as well.

    What can I say. I too believe there is hope on the horizon. I’m pretty sure that hope is going to come from one of the new areas of research, specifically immunotherapies that somehow learn to distinguish the cancer cells and then new tools for our bodies to fight off this disease.

    Dr Cul’s work sounds promising. Thanks so much for the link.

    And take care of yourself!

    -Peter

    #19012
    devoncat
    Spectator

    Jules,
    Thanks for the information. I have been thinking about you alot recently and was just about to buckle down and email you to see how you are doing. I hope you are finding the strength to get through this period and that you can now think of your dad and remember how wonderful he was and how much you loved each other and not just cc. Keeping you in my thoughts.

    Kris

    #19011
    jules
    Spectator

    thankyou for your good wishes, yes Karen we did try alot of treatments for my Dad. you will find alot of info under the dc therapy thread in this research section, my Dad find chemo harsh and did not tolerate it well – harnessing the cancer fighting properties of our natural immune systems seems logical to me. DC therapy works on the same lines too..

    Jeff, thanks for your message, yes we all need hope, I will keep an eye out too. Here is the reply from dr Cui. (Standard response due to demand for info):

    Dear cancer patients and family members and friends,

    Thank you very much for your inquires about our research project on a new cancer therapeutic concept based on many years of research on cancer-resistant mice and cancer-resistant humans. Recent media events were sparked by my recent presentation at a conference at University of Cambridge, UK. (video: http://richardjschueler.com/wp-gallery2.php?g2_itemId=56888) In this talk, I briefly described our work on how we made the transition from laboratory research to a new therapeutic concept for human cancer treatment. However, since then, I have been inundated with countless inquiries about this new experimental cancer therapy. I simply can’t respond to all these inquiries specifically. I am writing this general response letter and hope that you will get some idea about the planned clinical trials with a starting time aimed for next June of 2008.

    This treatment involves how to identify cancer-resistant healthy human donors, how to collect a specific set of white blood cells, particularly granulocytes, from human donors, how to infuse cancer patients with these collected granulocytes and how to evaluate the response of cancer patients to this treatment. This treatment does not involve any new compound or drug that can be shipped around. It depends on basically something similar to blood transfusion that requires both patients and donors to be at same facility, or in this case, at Wake Forest University Medical Center here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

    We planned two phase II clinical trials. In the first trial with 22 patients (already approved by IRB and FDA), our goal is to randomly select a group appropriate cancer patients, based on criteria set by our physician team, to test the dose of granulocytes they can tolerate. The medical term for this test is called “dose escalation”. Not all cancer patients will meet the criteria for this trial. For example, late stage cancer patients who are not ambulatory or who don’t have more than four months of life expectancy will not be considered for this experimental therapy. The effect of this new therapy on malignant diseases will not be a primary goal of observation. If the trial shows that the patients can indeed tolerate our proposed doses of granulocytes, then we are ready to move into the second planned trial. The second trial will test what kind of cancer will have beneficial responses to this therapy. We will select several patients from different types of cancers. By the end of these two trials, we should have a very good idea about if this experimental treatment is a good one or not.

    Before next June when the first trial begin, our Wake Forest team has to establish a donor registry consisted of about 100 local volunteer eligible donors from approximately several hundreds of initial healthy willing participants. These donors will be on call when they are needed for granulocyte donation. These donors have to pass the anticancer activity test and infectious disease test before they can become eligible donors. The current cost estimate for each patient is about $50K to $100K and the whole trial will take $2M to $3M in US dollars. This estimate is to cover expenses for the recruitment of donors, testing donors for infectious status and anticancer activities, collection of granulocytes from donors, transfusion procedures, standard disease monitoring procedures before and after treatment and standard patient care. The treatment is an out-patient procedure and does not require hospitalization. Patients are expected to be responsible for their own transportation and accommodation during their treatment period. We are actively trying to raise funding for this trial in hope that all or a portion of cancer patients in this trial can be treated based on clinical and scientific criteria, rather than on their ability to pay. However, such a hope will have to depend on how successful our fund-raising will be.

    Early next year, Wake Forest University will make official announcement about these clinical trials. We will create a website specifically for these trials so that enrollment of patients and potential donors can be done electronically. In this way, patients who are not local would have equal opportunity to be considered for entering the trials.

    Thank you.

    Zheng Cui, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor

    Section of Tumor Biology

    Department of Pathology

    Wake Forest University School of Medicine

    2103 Gray Building

    Medical Center Boulevard

    Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157

    Phone: 336-716-6185

    Fax: 336-716-6757

    Email: zhengcui@wfubmc.edu

    #19010
    carol58
    Spectator

    Hi Jules, I know it’s been rough since losing your Dad. I hope you’re getting along okay. WFUBMC is in Winston-Salem, NC where we live and Charlie goes everyday for radiation and chemo. We don’t know this doctor though. Good article, thanks for posting it.

    Carol

    #19009
    karen
    Spectator

    Jules,
    I am so sorry to hear of your Dad’s passing (I guess I missed a posting somewhere along the way). I was wondering where you have been on this site. You and your Dad tried so many approaches to combat this rotten disease and I missed hearing from you. You will be in my prayers to have the Lord lay a calming hand on you as I know your heart feels like it will absolutely burst through your chest. Know that your Dad now has peace and one day you will be together again. Bless you.
    Karen

    #19008
    jeffg
    Member

    Jules … Nice to hear from you. That link/article was extremely interesting to read. I agree with you, there is hope on the horizon. I will certainly keep a close watch on this one. Thanks for posting it, as hope gives many the energy and mind set to keep on trying.
    Bless You!
    Jeff G.

    #1077
    jules
    Spectator

    yes I know its been a while…. (I’ve been struggling with the loss of my Dad and burying myself in work)..

    just wanted to pass this on:

    http://www1.wfubmc.edu/tumorbio/srmouse/index.htm

    I have emailed Dr Cui to find out more – eg how soon can we expect to see clinical trials in humans? and would he consider this effective for cc patients – even late stage. I’ll let you know. This seems to me along the lines of DC therapy, still worth keeping a close eye on, I think.

    kind regards to you all
    julesx

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