60 Minutes | Using Polio to treat Cancer

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JohnSmith
JohnSmith Member Posts: 651
edited May 2015 in Clinical Trials, Research News, Podcasts, and Study Results

In the Stage 4 section, a thread was created by "MusicLover" (Thank you!) about 60 Minutes running a segment on curing a brain tumor (glioblastoma) by using a genetically engineered Polio virus, in what some refer to as "Virotherapy". I thought it would be wise to broadcast the message to a wider audience. It airs tonight, March 29, 2015. Here's a one minute video trailer.

  • Update: If you missed the show, you can watch the full 15 Minute segment from the CBS News website by clicking here.

This has obvious overtones of the recent HBO / Vice special, "Killing Cancer" released recently, which is discussed here in this thread - HBO's Special Report: "Killing Cancer".
Sadly, it appears the full episode of "Killing Cancer" has been removed from the Vice website and Youtube (it's deemed "private" and you need permission from the owner to watch it. WTH?)
The 6 minute recap from the TV special "Killing Cancer" discussing the show and the topic of cancer vaccination therapy is still available on Youtube - Vice Season 3 Special Report: Killing Cancer Debrief (HBO). If you're unable to watch it, try using a "proxy server" to view the video.

Anyway, tonight's 60 Minutes special does not directly apply to breast cancer, but it's worth watching for numerous reasons. Perhaps it will inspire some of you to discuss the topic with your oncologist and/or researchers. It can't hurt to bring up the topic to explore how these therapies may be translated to the field of breast cancer.

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  • MusicLover
    MusicLover Member Posts: 4,225
    edited March 2015

    Thanks John. I am just so accustom to posting there that I forget to post other places. Your wife is a very lucky lady to have you, you take such an active roll in this.  I wish none of us had to go through this, it puts us and our families through the ringer.  I do hope that your wife beats this thing entirely.  Have you had the chance to discuss these advances with your wife's onc? and if so, what did he/she say?  I did ask mine about immunology over a year ago and he said something like, "Oh yeah, we do use that for treating other cancers already."  Obviously, not available for breast cancer yet and because of the way he answered me then I don't plan on saying anything else until I hear that this was used on a breast cancer patient but I would love to hear that other oncs are hopeful that there will be something amazing for breast cancer in the near future.  I hope several people here can post something to that effect.

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  • momof2doxies
    momof2doxies Member Posts: 342
    edited March 2015

    I just completed watching the segment on 60 minutes. The science behind this study is very promising. The key is finding the right dosage of the altered polio virus that will turn on the body's immune system at the correct level. More is not always better with this treatment. It appears that this treatment will extend to many cancers in including breast. In my opinion, it appears to only be used to solid mass tumors that have not metastasized. Because the virus is injected precisely into the tumor that has been mapped using 3D MRI technology. This is by far the most inspiring news I have heard about cancer treatment.

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  • MusicLover
    MusicLover Member Posts: 4,225
    edited March 2015

    John, What did you think? My opinion is that this was very good. I put a few comments on the thread that I created. I love that they have begun trying this on other cancers and have tested it successfully on breast cancer in the lab, hopefully it will have great success on breast cancer patients in the near future. I blinked for a second when they told us where to go for more information, if you got that please post it. Otherwise, I will wait until I can watch this episode online. 

    PS- I see MO tomorrow and I do plan on asking him if he saw this episode of 60 minutes and what his thoughts on this are.

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  • ihatesnowihatesnow
    ihatesnowihatesnow Member Posts: 859
    edited March 2015


    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/polio-cancer-treatment-duke-university-60-minutes-scott-pelley/


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  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 7,079
    edited March 2015

    Duke University does such promising ground-breaking research in cancer. This solid tumor immunotherapy is so hopeful. Remember it was a Duke team who did all the research with BZA trying to convince Pfizer of it's therapeutic use for breast cancer.

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  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 7,079
    edited March 2015

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/polio-cancer-treatment...


    Killing Cancer

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  • wallycat
    wallycat Member Posts: 3,227
    edited March 2015

    Good science rocks!!!!

    I watched it and wept.

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  • MusicLover
    MusicLover Member Posts: 4,225
    edited March 2015

    When I saw MO at 9:30am I asked him if he saw it last night and he said no and another patient had already asked him about.  He will probably get bob barded with questions about it, good! He knew from the other patient that they used a polio vaccine, so he teased with his nurse to get  a vaccine for me.  Then I told him he worked for some but not for others, until they worked the dose out and he said yes I do this for a living I know what a phase I clinical trial is about.  (I don't know why I bothered...)

    (My opinion is that he thinks I am crazy for showing up so late to the party, I just didn't want to believe that I was dealing with breast cancer - I had a tumor basically on my chest wall, definitely not in my breast. Two years prior to me investigating when my GP told me it was lipoma, I knew that if it was breast cancer this was a death sentence for me or some really nasty hail mary surgery like the old type of radical mastectomy, then stage IV anyway. After being on femara for 1.5 yrs and with it shrinking, I know that I was correct - yeah, I'm crazy like a fox.  This disease sucks! )

    (Last but not least, I told the nurse in the tx room today that I prefer Logan's Run over this.)

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  • JohnSmith
    JohnSmith Member Posts: 651
    edited April 2015

    Forbes science writer, David Kroll, wrote a nice article about the 60 Minutes episode from last month. It's called: What '60 Minutes' Got Right And Wrong On Duke's Polio Virus Trial Against Glioblastoma

    Also, in the broadcast, Scott Pelley mentioned a receptor that nearly all solid tumors have (which the polio virus targets). For those wondering, the receptor he was referring to is called "CD155", aka PVR (poliovirus receptor). It's unknown to me which breast cancer subtypes have this receptor.

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  • MusicLover
    MusicLover Member Posts: 4,225
    edited April 2015

    JohnS, Thank you for posting this.  I read it and the attached article. What are your thoughts on these articles?  When they talk about Amgen's drug in the attached article are they basically saying that if things don't go well for it then the companies investigating the other immunology drugs will back out? 

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  • JohnSmith
    JohnSmith Member Posts: 651
    edited May 2015

    The annual ASCO cancer conference kicks off in Chicago, IL this weekend.
    As highlighted in the 60 Minutes TV show, Immunotherapy, specifically "combination therapy", is the topic that will steal the show.

    ASCO Immunotherapy Preview: These Cancer-Killing Viruses May Save Lives
    Highlights from the conference will include the following:
    1. Duke University: Re-engineered Polio virus in patients with glioblastoma as featured on 60 Minutes this past March.

    2. Amgen: Presenting data from 4 studies of T-VEC, re-engineered from the Herpes virus.

    3. Genelux: Sloan Kettering & UC San Diego will present data from 2 trials dealing with cancer treatment, GL-ONC1, derived from vaccinia, the cowpox virus that's the basis of the smallpox vaccine.

    4. Oncos Therapeutics: Presenting data from study on a modified strain of Adenovirus (version of the common cold). Tested on patients with solid tumors.

    5. PsiOxus: One of the most unorthodox approaches to virotherapy. Instead of modifying an existing virus, the company created its own adenoviruses by infecting cancer cells with different strains of the virus, observing them as they evolved, isolating the strains that showed the most promise, and then arming them with further immune-boosting properties. The company is testing its lead creation, Enadenotucirev, in ovarian and colorectal cancer.

    6. Virttu Biologics: Testing oncolytic versions of herpes and adenovirus. At ASCO it will describe its efforts to create a "Trojan horse" system that would use engineered forms of both viruses in tandem to treat multiple myeloma.

    7. Viralytics: Could the common cold cure cancer? That's the question Viralytics has set out to answer with its specially formulated version of coxsackievirus, better known as the cold virus. At ASCO, the Aussie company will present data from a mid-stage trial in 57 patients with advanced melanoma.

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  • MusicLover
    MusicLover Member Posts: 4,225
    edited May 2015

    Thank you for posting this. Hopefully we will get lots of positive info after this conference.

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