Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Cases of Cancer tied to Breast Implants
The New York Times last month in an article titled, "Cases of Cancer Tied to Breast Implants," reported more cases of an unusual cancer linked to breast implants. These were reported to the Food and Drug Administration.
The disease is not breast cancer, but a malignancy of the immune system called breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.
When detected early, it can usually be cured by surgery along, by removing the implant and the capsule of scar tissue forms around it. But some women have needed more extensive treatment, with chemotherapy and radiation, and the disease can be fatal.
According to the Times, a major is swelling around the implant, which has occurred from two to 28 years after surgery, with a median of eight years.
In women with no symptoms, there is no reason to remove implants or even to screen for the disease, the FDA has stated.
For more information, check with your doctor, or research the New York Times title above.
Victor Cino
Friday, May 11, 2018
Great article in Reader's Digest, February,2018 issue on subject of Immunotherapy.
The article explains how this process works. Basically, T cells, the immune cells that attack bacteria, viruses and cancer cells are generally not strong enough to wipe out cancer in the body. A team led by Doctor Rosenberg was the first to remove T cells from patients with cancer, multiply them in the lab and then re-inject them into the patient.
Basically, the T cells are now , hopefully, strong enough to attack the cancer cells and destroy them.
The process does not always work, but it is a way of our own immune system to become strong enough to attack the cancer cells and destroy them.
Another doctor in Israel, an Immunologist, at the Weizmann Institute of Science, thought he could use a recently developed gene therapy technique to make T cells strong enough to better and more effective cancer fighters. By engineering T cells to carry a chain of amino acids called chimeric antigen receptors, (CARS), which seek out cells which may be cancerous.
When receptors on CAR Ts find cancer cells, they latch onto them, that connection tells them to multipy and multiply and ultimately and hopefully, kill the cancer cells.
There is more in this fascinating article. Go to Readers Digest and read the February 2018, beginning on page 54
The article explains how this process works. Basically, T cells, the immune cells that attack bacteria, viruses and cancer cells are generally not strong enough to wipe out cancer in the body. A team led by Doctor Rosenberg was the first to remove T cells from patients with cancer, multiply them in the lab and then re-inject them into the patient.
Basically, the T cells are now , hopefully, strong enough to attack the cancer cells and destroy them.
The process does not always work, but it is a way of our own immune system to become strong enough to attack the cancer cells and destroy them.
Another doctor in Israel, an Immunologist, at the Weizmann Institute of Science, thought he could use a recently developed gene therapy technique to make T cells strong enough to better and more effective cancer fighters. By engineering T cells to carry a chain of amino acids called chimeric antigen receptors, (CARS), which seek out cells which may be cancerous.
When receptors on CAR Ts find cancer cells, they latch onto them, that connection tells them to multipy and multiply and ultimately and hopefully, kill the cancer cells.
There is more in this fascinating article. Go to Readers Digest and read the February 2018, beginning on page 54
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)