Epitope-Enhanced TARP Peptide Vaccine Versus TARP Peptide-Pulsed Dendritic Cells

A new NIH Bethesda, MD clinical trial. TARP Peptide trial. This is a good trial protocol as both arms get some presumed effective drug. Trials with placebos dealing with fatal illnesses seem to be ethically challenging.

MDV3100 Show promise

MDV3100 is a second generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonist. It seems to help with CR patients I wonder what it could do for those who have stage III? Here is the site of the manufacturer Medivation http://www.medivation.com/. Here is an article from Howard Hughes Medical Institute http://www.hhmi.org/. http://tiny.cc/HHMIMDV3100 .

Next Generation Proton X-ray Machine Needs $$$

DOE Lawrence Livermore National Labs & UC Davis have developed a new way to deliver Proton x-rays. This system could help treat many cancer victims because of the potential for significantly lower costs. There is also a chance to treat more challenging cancers. Here is text with a pix of the proton accelerator.

Current machine are the size of football fields because of the 100 ton magnets necessary to bend the charged particle (proton rays).

This system needs funding NOW!!! It is currently being developed by a private company that is a spin off of the Tomotherapy x-ray IGIMRT (Image-Guided Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) manufacturers. They use conformal beam radiation in their HI-ART technology.

Proton therapy is better then IGIMRT because it sends the charged particles to the targeted tumor, not to the entrance skin and all the way through the other side of the body.

Prostate Cancer Care as Cost Effective Medicine

See NY Times Prostate Cancer as a Test of medical care or over treatment? They ignored HIFU and immunotherapy as primary care. Perhaps a good government will encourage newer innovations that CURE cancer and not line the pockets of Oncologists. This 2nd NY Times article noting the abysmal % of patients in clinical trials and note that Oncologists LOSE $ on clinical trials! Oncologists have a Negative incentive to present Ctrials to their patients.

Radiation/Oncologists may have their own problems filling their machine usage. Here is a sample of a biasd article. Here is the reply by the highest medical source. A post operative patient has12 weeks post surgery to have effective salvage radiation! Read the NIH report because x-rays can cause secondary cancers.

I suspect that the National Science Foundation may have funds available to help support the use of clinical trials. It seems that the NIH and NCI are unable to help themselves in this area. This will require social engineering. What can you say to a patient after he has been given a death sentence and they want him to spend his remaining days involved in medical treatments that may not work. The use of placebos in lethal diseases where open label could be used is a questionable method. It may be good science but would you want it used against you?

MDX-010 or ipilimumab

Ipilimumab seems to WORK!
This is an immunotherapeutic vaccine. I will flesh this out as I get more info.

Introduction to Prostate Cancer and clinical trials

Hello,
I am an Agent Orange prostate cancer victim. This means I was in Vietnam during the spraying of the herbicide which contained dioxin. This chemical is thought to cause aggressive cancer. I have been involved in several prostate cancer clinical trials and many other medical trials.

I am a volunteer in the SELECT prostate cancer clinical trial. This 10 year trial is run by the SWOG (Southwest Oncology Group). It showed that vitamin "E" and Selenium failed to prevent prostate cancer. It was because of this trial that I found out that I had a higher then normal PSA (Prostate Serum Antigen) reading (5.5). The "normal" PSA is less then 4.0 which still indicates cancer but is assumed to be safe.

In 2008-9, I was a volunteer in an Onyvax cancer vaccine trial at NIH (National Institute of Health) in Bethesda, MD. This is the headquarters of the WORLDS LARGEST clinical trial center. Onyvax, which is based in England, went bankrupt and the trial was closed. My PSA level went down during the androgen depletion therapy (ADT), also known as (aka) castrate therapy, portion of the trial but went back up after the ADT, which lasts about 5 months, wore off.

Cancer, in general, is lethal when it metastasizes especially to the liver and lungs. Prostate cancer is activated by testosterone (androgen). This was discovered in the 1940's. The 1966 Noble prize in medicine was awarded to the discoverers of this hormone driven mechanism.

The first treatment for prostate cancer with the intent to cure is removal of the prostate, seminal vessels and prostate bed lymph nodes. If you have a high Gleason score (a reading of a prostate biopsy with a score of 1-5 with 5 being the worst) on one side of the gland then the nerves will be removed from that side. These nerves control erections and urine flow.

If the PSA goes to undetectable AND STAYS THERE (it may take years for the cancer to return) then you are cured. This means that the survivor must still have a PSA test probably yearly for the rest of his life.

This cancer becomes lethal when it evolves into AI (androgen independent) aka, castrate resistant, mode and grows in the bones and organs. Many cancer trials are directed toward these patients. Normally, Pca AI patients have between 18-24 months to live. It is unfortunate that too many patients wait to fight this disease until they are told that they are in immediate danger of dying from it.