Granulocytes Heading For Trials
EurekAlert! reports on a very promising cancer therapy that's been featured at SENS conferences in the past: "The treatment will involve transfusing specific white blood cells, called granulocytes, from select donors, into patients with advanced forms of cancer. A similar treatment using white blood cells from cancer-resistant mice has previously been highly successful, curing 100 percent of lab mice afflicted with advanced malignancies. ... In mice, we've been able to eradicate even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors. Hopefully, we will see the same results in humans. Our laboratory studies indicate that this cancer-fighting ability is even stronger in healthy humans ... The team has tested human cancer-fighting cells from healthy donors against human cervical, prostate and breast cancer cells in the laboratory - with surprisingly good results. ... In a small study of human volunteers, the scientists found that cancer-killing activity in the granulocytes was highest in people under age 50. They also found that this activity can be lowered by factors such as winter or emotional stress. They said the key to the success for the new therapy is to transfuse sufficient granulocytes from healthy donors while their cancer-killing activities are at their peak level."
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/wfub-ci062308.php