Great Layman's Primer on T-cells and what "Checkpoint Inhibitors" are - from WIRED 10.22.2018

[cujoe]

I found this article recently and it tells the story of how Jim Allison won the Nobel Prize for his ground-breaking research into the role and function of T-cells in our immune system. It recounts his journey to these discoveries, while describing the immune system using simple language and analogies that anyone can understand. Highly recommended reading for all cancer patients!

Meet the Carousing, Harmonica-Playing Texan Who Won a Nobel for his Cancer Breakthrough. Jim Allison is an iconoclastic scientist who toiled in obscurity for years. Then he helped crack a mystery that may save millions of lives: Why doesn’t the immune system attack cancer?

wired.com/story/meet-jim-al...

We now need a new generation of Jim Allisons to push the research to the ultimate goal of universal cures for cancer. Be Well - cujoe

[NPfisherman]

What a fabulous article... and some good information on understanding the immune system... I thought I would drop over when at the end, they revealed this "redneck" Texan is married to Padmanee Sharma, leading researcher at MD Anderson...funny.... which leads us on to more science.... This article tells us we are getting close... Thanks for posting this information...

Fish

[cujoe in reply to NPfisherman]

Well, not that close - yet. Here is a video today from MedPageToday on immunotheraphy via TedTalk by Carl June, MD, director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. He speaks as a treatment specialist and discusses his clinical successes and failures to date using CAR-T. Unfortunately, the cost of this is way out of reach for non-1%ers except via trials; i.e., a cool 1 mil per patient!

medpagetoday.com/tedmed/ted...

The description of the high-fever symptoms of patients who respond to CAR-T sound very similar to those of the William Coley (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi... who purposely infected cancer patients with bacteria to cause an immune response characterized by very high fevers. High fevers = symptom OR cause of curative results?

Food for thought - Be Well - cujoe

[marnieg46]

This is a great article cujoe. It's written simply in language that's detailed but easily accessible.