Post by Dr. T is an alien on Jan 28, 2006 12:17:30 GMT -5
Hey Quake,
I thought about sending this message to you in a PM, but I thought it might be a better idea to put this out there for any crappers who might know more on the subject than me so that they may correct me in the places I am wrong. Please don't get too excited about this, the results of what little human testing that has been done were less consistant than those of mouse testing.
Had you ever heard of treating tumors with intentional viral infections? I believe it is done some in Japan, but to limited success. My source of information somes from the guy who did the initial research back in the late 60's. Allow you to tell you what I was told on the subject.
*BEV* is a virus that mainly infects cows. It rarely infects humans. Any creature that gets it usually just gets a short case of the runs. It isn't very dangerous to anything and isn't too widespread, so it more or less doesn't get studied. One place that it does get studied is Indiana University. The reason why is an accidental discovery by my Viral-Culture Lab instructer, Dr. Milton Taylor, back around 1967.
I won't tell you all of the things that make cancerous cells different from normal cells. Chances are you know better than me. One thing of interest about cancer cells is that unlike normal cells a cancer cell can live and reproduce indefinitely outside of a body so long as it is kept nourished. Normal cells died after a few days. Since viruses are obligately parasitic, live cells are needed to maintain viral lines, either in a live host or cancerous cell cultures. Dr. Taylor discovered an interesting thing about BSV. The supposedly mild virus did a real number on the cell cultures used to propogate the viral line. This lead to specific research in which they deliberately caused mice to get tumors. The first mice were given tumors in their intestinal linings. These tumors grew to the point that the mouse resemble a football. Later mice were given tumors elsewhere. All of these dying mice were infected with *BEV*. A few days later the tumors were destroyed and the mice made full recoveries. Dr. Taylor thought that they were on the way to finding a magic bullet against cancer, but the government wouldn't give him funding to start reseaching this technique on human cancers. It was deemed unethical to deliberately infect a patient with a virus. To be honest, I don't see how. Some of the most heralded medical discoveries involve deliberate infections. Vacinations involve infecting a host with dead or attenuated viruses. Millions of life have been saved by intentional infection of the mold penicillium. More than 200 years before mankind even thought to look for viruses, the western world was combating the smallpox virus with intentional infections of the cowpox virus (yes another bovine virus).
Dr. Taylor had to abandon that research, but he made sure that every student he taught, including me, knew about his previous results. He has been consulted a few times over the years on the topic, however. The last itme was a few years ago by a start-up company in PA, I think. I don't know the company's name.
Again, what little human testing that has been done has been less consistant than Dr. Taylor's mouse tumor studies. I think that it is a shame that he wasn't allowed to further his studies. Now that gene therapy is starting to get more use (gene therapy uses viruses to encode specific traits into cell cultures that are implanted into a patient) it is a more acceptable idea. Too bad we lost 30 years of research time.
Also, I do not by any means claim to be an expert on the topic. Your oncologist will likely know more on this than I do. To be honest, at this point in medical history I'm sure that chemo yields better results than BSV infections in humans have. I debated for a few days since I learned of the topic whether to mention it to you. I certainly don't aim to get your hopes up if it hasn' t been developed enough for humans. I don't have the numbers of the Japanese results of their treatments; they may not be any better than anything else. I just know that you said that your oncologist is giving you his last try of chemo, so maybe you might ask him about this. It may be nothing at this stage, but you never know.
*Edit*: I accidentally originally labeled the virus BSV. It's name is BEV (bovine enterovirus). I accidentally crossed it's name up with the other virus that I am working on(that also infects cattle, as well and pigs and horses) called VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus). I appologize for any confusion.
I thought about sending this message to you in a PM, but I thought it might be a better idea to put this out there for any crappers who might know more on the subject than me so that they may correct me in the places I am wrong. Please don't get too excited about this, the results of what little human testing that has been done were less consistant than those of mouse testing.
Had you ever heard of treating tumors with intentional viral infections? I believe it is done some in Japan, but to limited success. My source of information somes from the guy who did the initial research back in the late 60's. Allow you to tell you what I was told on the subject.
*BEV* is a virus that mainly infects cows. It rarely infects humans. Any creature that gets it usually just gets a short case of the runs. It isn't very dangerous to anything and isn't too widespread, so it more or less doesn't get studied. One place that it does get studied is Indiana University. The reason why is an accidental discovery by my Viral-Culture Lab instructer, Dr. Milton Taylor, back around 1967.
I won't tell you all of the things that make cancerous cells different from normal cells. Chances are you know better than me. One thing of interest about cancer cells is that unlike normal cells a cancer cell can live and reproduce indefinitely outside of a body so long as it is kept nourished. Normal cells died after a few days. Since viruses are obligately parasitic, live cells are needed to maintain viral lines, either in a live host or cancerous cell cultures. Dr. Taylor discovered an interesting thing about BSV. The supposedly mild virus did a real number on the cell cultures used to propogate the viral line. This lead to specific research in which they deliberately caused mice to get tumors. The first mice were given tumors in their intestinal linings. These tumors grew to the point that the mouse resemble a football. Later mice were given tumors elsewhere. All of these dying mice were infected with *BEV*. A few days later the tumors were destroyed and the mice made full recoveries. Dr. Taylor thought that they were on the way to finding a magic bullet against cancer, but the government wouldn't give him funding to start reseaching this technique on human cancers. It was deemed unethical to deliberately infect a patient with a virus. To be honest, I don't see how. Some of the most heralded medical discoveries involve deliberate infections. Vacinations involve infecting a host with dead or attenuated viruses. Millions of life have been saved by intentional infection of the mold penicillium. More than 200 years before mankind even thought to look for viruses, the western world was combating the smallpox virus with intentional infections of the cowpox virus (yes another bovine virus).
Dr. Taylor had to abandon that research, but he made sure that every student he taught, including me, knew about his previous results. He has been consulted a few times over the years on the topic, however. The last itme was a few years ago by a start-up company in PA, I think. I don't know the company's name.
Again, what little human testing that has been done has been less consistant than Dr. Taylor's mouse tumor studies. I think that it is a shame that he wasn't allowed to further his studies. Now that gene therapy is starting to get more use (gene therapy uses viruses to encode specific traits into cell cultures that are implanted into a patient) it is a more acceptable idea. Too bad we lost 30 years of research time.
Also, I do not by any means claim to be an expert on the topic. Your oncologist will likely know more on this than I do. To be honest, at this point in medical history I'm sure that chemo yields better results than BSV infections in humans have. I debated for a few days since I learned of the topic whether to mention it to you. I certainly don't aim to get your hopes up if it hasn' t been developed enough for humans. I don't have the numbers of the Japanese results of their treatments; they may not be any better than anything else. I just know that you said that your oncologist is giving you his last try of chemo, so maybe you might ask him about this. It may be nothing at this stage, but you never know.
*Edit*: I accidentally originally labeled the virus BSV. It's name is BEV (bovine enterovirus). I accidentally crossed it's name up with the other virus that I am working on(that also infects cattle, as well and pigs and horses) called VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus). I appologize for any confusion.