
Scottish scientists develop new technique for killing cancer cells - pg
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/scientists-make-cancer-cells-vanish-1.1022114
======
tokenadult
See

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1295315>

submitted just today.

I find it interesting, pg, that you latch on to certain news stories that are
based largely on researcher press releases to announce medical research
results. Do the stories that catch your eye seem to have more start-up
potential than other medical news stories, or do you use some other screens to
decide which medical news stories are of most interest?

My own posting behavior reveals that I like medical news stories too, but I
especially like those that are more cautious in drawing conclusions about
clinical importance, and that bring up issues of research interpretation,

<http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html>

as it is well known that many initial research findings in human medicine are
never replicated.

------
GiraffeNecktie
IANAD but I always thought that cancer cells were relatively weak and
therefore actually killing them was not a big deal - all kinds of things can
kill cancer - the problem is effectively delivering the killing mechanism to
the site of the cancer without harming surrounding tissue.

~~~
anigbrowl
That's what apparently makes this quite nice - uses the same mechanism as that
which carries iron in the bloodstream so it seems low overhead (vs chemo) and
high selectivity.

 _The intravenous administration of transferrin-bearing polypropylenimine
polyplex resulted in gene expression mainly in the tumors. Consequently, the
intravenous administration of the delivery system complexed to a therapeutic
DNA led to a rapid and sustained tumor regression over one month, with long-
term survival of 100% of the animals (90% complete response, 10% partial
response).The treatment was well tolerated by the animals, with no apparent
signs of toxicity._

Intravenous administration is very promising, as it suggests the possibility
of targeting cancer anywhere in the body. The transferrin receptor is
apparently common to many human cancers.

------
anigbrowl
More info here:
[http://spider.science.strath.ac.uk/sipbs/staff/Christine_Duf...](http://spider.science.strath.ac.uk/sipbs/staff/Christine_Duf%E8s.htm)

Paper itself here (the Journal is paywalled, boo):
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/30300545/sdarticle>

It has only been shown for skin cancer so far, but a) that's still a big deal
as skin cancer is very common and b) indications are that this vector should
probably work with other types.

Somewhat related: [http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/news/212802-new-use-of-
proteins-...](http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/news/212802-new-use-of-proteins-in-
genetic-material-could-help-in-cancer-fight)

------
billybob
...with a headbutt!!

~~~
adnam
You're getting downvoted, but I chuckled :)

