Comments on: Injected Cells Cure Tumors in Mice — Study http://psa-rising.com/blog/index.php/2006/05/11/injected-cells-cure-tumors-in-mice-study/ Cancer and public health Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:55:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 Comment on Injected Cells Cure Tumors in Mice — Study by: cooperge http://psa-rising.com/blog/index.php/2006/05/11/injected-cells-cure-tumors-in-mice-study/#comment-329 Fri, 26 May 2006 13:22:16 +0000 http://psa-rising.com/blog/index.php/2006/05/11/injected-cells-cure-tumors-in-mice-study/#comment-329 The original discovery that an apparently random mutation in a mouse conferred immunity to a large variety of aggressive cancers and that this cellular immunity was transferrable was made in 1999. Seven years and millions of agonizing human deaths later all we have are skeptical comments such as "this is an isolated publication from an isolated laboratory," and the original and follow-on observations have yet to be tested or confirmed by a second laboratory. This is appalling. The latest PNAS paper abstracted above states that the work was funded by, among others, the National Cancer Institute, a taxpayer-supported government agency. How can we as a society have so completely lost our way that this extraordinarily important discovery has not been shouted from the rooftops and made the focus of intense multi-lab study, especially at the NCI itself. I am afraid that the answer lies in "intellectual property rights," lawyers and dollars rather than in a primary goal of doing everything possible to determine whether it is applicable to patients and, if likely so, to develop a therapy based on this discovery. The original discovery that an apparently random mutation in a mouse conferred immunity to a large variety of aggressive cancers and that this cellular immunity was transferrable was made in 1999. Seven years and millions of agonizing human deaths later all we have are skeptical comments such as “this is an isolated publication from an isolated laboratory,” and the original and follow-on observations have yet to be tested or confirmed by a second laboratory.

This is appalling. The latest PNAS paper abstracted above states that the work was funded by, among others, the National Cancer Institute, a taxpayer-supported government agency. How can we as a society have so completely lost our way that this extraordinarily important discovery has not been shouted from the rooftops and made the focus of intense multi-lab study, especially at the NCI itself. I am afraid that the answer lies in “intellectual property rights,” lawyers and dollars rather than in a primary goal of doing everything possible to determine whether it is applicable to patients and, if likely so, to develop a therapy based on this discovery.

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