Published today in Science, the research team from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and CSL Limited say this breakthrough of discovering how gamma-delta T cells become activated addresses a question that has baffled scientists for 25 years.

The study by University of Melbourne’s Marc Rigau, Ph.D. student at the Doherty Institute, was co-led by Dr. Adam Uldrich, a Senior Research Fellow at the Doherty Institute, Professor Dale Godfrey a laboratory head at the Doherty Institute, and Dr. Andreas Behren, a Laboratory Head from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute.

Dr. Uldrich explained that gamma-delta T cells are known to respond to the presence of small molecules, known as phosphoantigens, that are produced by bacteria and cancer cells.

The year of treating the untreatable: 2019 breakthroughs that could transform medicine.

Preliminary data from an innovative clinical trial suggests CRISPR could be safe for use in cancer therapy.

Breakthrough research shows that type 2 diabetes occurs when fat from the liver overspills into the pancreas and confirms that weight loss can reverse it.

Thoughts on this. True or BS.

DCA Dichloroacetate Breakthrough Anticancer Agent

Mary, an old patient in my office, called in last week to ask for advice about her husband, Jim. He had been quite healthy for many years, and recently noticed back pain. His primary care doctor ordered a CAT scan which showed a large lung mass (Red Arrow Above image) and destructive lesions in the spine. Biopsies confirmed the lung mass was indeed cancer, with metastatic spread to the thoracic vertebral bodies. Jim was referred to the local oncologist who started radiation and chemotherapy. Above Header Image CAT scan of lung cancer mass (Red Arrow) in left lung courtesy of wikimedia commons…

After a week of chemotherapy, Jim was miserable from the adverse effects of nausea, and vomiting, and loss of appetite. Jim felt so bad, he declined any further chemotherapy treatment. Mary asked if I had any suggestions.

Professor Varda Shoshan-Barmatz of the Department of Life Sciences and the founding Director of the NIBN, in collaboration with Dr. Jay Chung of the NIH, have successfully demonstrated that the mitochondrial protein VDAC1 is critical for the release of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) associated with the lupus disease.

They demonstrated that restricting of VDAC1 with a newly developed molecule resulted in substantial improvement in pathological aspects of the disease.

“When VDAC1 is over-expressed, as found in several diseases, a large pore composed of several VDAC1 units is formed, allowing the release of pro-cell death factors and mtDNA,” BGU explained in a statement.

Last November, CHIPSA Hospital hosted a unique, first-of-its-kind event celebrating the lives of 22 late stage cancer survivors who, according to doctors, shouldn’t even be alive. Surrounded by world-renowned doctors, scientists, and researchers, these patients shared their inspiring stories of how they healed their terminal disease when conventional treatment had failed them.

CHIPSA is not an ordinary hospital. For one, we take patients who are typically told they have no other treatment options left. We then offer those patients innovative immunotherapies that aren’t available anywhere in the United States.

Our collaborative event highlighted the patients who have benefited from those types of therapies, featuring people on all ends of the treatment spectrum: the researchers who developed them, the doctors who administered them, and the patients who received them.