Talk-Polywell.org

Among other subjects on which I preserve a persistent interest is the topic of Cancer treatment and developments in Cancer research and understanding. Though I have no history of it in my own family, I have always been concerned that one day it shall come knocking on my door. To the end of avoiding or mitigating it, I have tried to keep up my understanding of the causes and treatments thereof.


With that in mind, I give you the first posting in this thread.


Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments

The research, published today in the science journal Cell, holds the promise of a new strategy and discovery pipeline for the development of anticancer drugs in the treatment of various cancers. The research team has identified another dozen drugs that have good potential for the same response.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-t ... human.html

Diogenes wrote:Among other subjects on which I preserve a persistent interest is the topic of Cancer treatment and developments in Cancer research and understanding. Though I have no history of it in my own family, I have always been concerned that one day it shall come knocking on my door. To the end of avoiding or mitigating it, I have tried to keep up my understanding of the causes and treatments thereof.


With that in mind, I give you the first posting in this thread.


Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments

The research, published today in the science journal Cell, holds the promise of a new strategy and discovery pipeline for the development of anticancer drugs in the treatment of various cancers. The research team has identified another dozen drugs that have good potential for the same response.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-t ... human.html

I am afraid it has "knocked on my family door" so to speak already. My father died of esophageal cancer in 2005(he smoked but quit in the middle 1960's). Maternal aunt died of intestinal cancer at the age of early '60's, so it is on both sides of my family tree. Like any cancer cure/treatment news, but my understanding is that if all forms of cancer were cured tomorrow, it would only increase the mean life expectancy by 2-4 yrs. Though of course if you were a say 50yr old woman diagnosed with breast cancer your personal life expectancy if the disease were cured would doubtlessly increase considerably more than that. What we really need is longevity research, things like SENS, to get us to actuarial escape velocity.

It also seems to have a zoo of size effects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thioridazine

It was an anti-psychotic drug that has been largely discontinued due to the side effects: The most commonly complained about side effect is akathisia which is the main reason for low patient compliance

Tardive dyskinesia characterized by involuntary movements of the lips, mouth, and tongue can be long lasting or irreversible, tremor of the mouth and lips without tongue involvement constitutes Rabbit syndrome. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is potentially fatal.

Central nervous system side effects occur. These are mainly drowsiness, dizziness, fatigue, and vertigo. Early and late extrapyramidal side effects are seen only infrequently (less than 1% altogether). There is no clear dose-effect relationship, as with higher doses anticholinergic effects of thioridazine become more prominent.

Thioridazine causes also an unusual high incidence of impotence and anorgasmia due to a strong alpha-blocking activity. Painful ejaculation or no ejaculation at all is also sometimes seen.[citation needed]

Although needless to say I would think most people would probably be willing to eat the side effects in exchange for not dying of Cancer. Furthermore since the drug has already been extensively used, would think the approval process for using it in cancer treatment should be much more rapid than a new drug would be.

williatw wrote:

Diogenes wrote:Among other subjects on which I preserve a persistent interest is the topic of Cancer treatment and developments in Cancer research and understanding. Though I have no history of it in my own family, I have always been concerned that one day it shall come knocking on my door. To the end of avoiding or mitigating it, I have tried to keep up my understanding of the causes and treatments thereof.


With that in mind, I give you the first posting in this thread.


Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments

The research, published today in the science journal Cell, holds the promise of a new strategy and discovery pipeline for the development of anticancer drugs in the treatment of various cancers. The research team has identified another dozen drugs that have good potential for the same response.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-t ... human.html

I am afraid it has "knocked on my family door" so to speak already. My father died of esophageal cancer in 2005(he smoked but quit in the middle 1960's). Maternal aunt died of intestinal cancer at the age of early '60's, so it is on both sides of my family tree. Like any cancer cure/treatment news, but my understanding is that if all forms of cancer were cured tomorrow, it would only increase the mean life expectancy by 2-4 yrs. Though of course if you were a say 50yr old woman diagnosed with breast cancer your personal life expectancy if the disease were cured would doubtlessly increase considerably more than that. What we really need is longevity research, things like SENS, to get us to actuarial escape velocity.

I am sorry for your losses. Cancer is a horrible disease which will hopefully be someday eliminated.

Longevity research is something I also have interest in. From time to time, Glen Reynolds (Instapundit) posts articles regarding longevity research. I suspect if anyone ever develops a substantial breakthrough in this field, we will all likely hear of it quickly.

williatw wrote:It also seems to have a zoo of size effects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thioridazine

It was an anti-psychotic drug that has been largely discontinued due to the side effects: The most commonly complained about side effect is akathisia which is the main reason for low patient compliance

Tardive dyskinesia characterized by involuntary movements of the lips, mouth, and tongue can be long lasting or irreversible, tremor of the mouth and lips without tongue involvement constitutes Rabbit syndrome. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is potentially fatal.

Central nervous system side effects occur. These are mainly drowsiness, dizziness, fatigue, and vertigo. Early and late extrapyramidal side effects are seen only infrequently (less than 1% altogether). There is no clear dose-effect relationship, as with higher doses anticholinergic effects of thioridazine become more prominent.

Thioridazine causes also an unusual high incidence of impotence and anorgasmia due to a strong alpha-blocking activity. Painful ejaculation or no ejaculation at all is also sometimes seen.[citation needed]

Although needless to say I would think most people would probably be willing to eat the side effects in exchange for not dying of Cancer. Furthermore since the drug has already been extensively used, would think the approval process for using it in cancer treatment should be much more rapid than a new drug would be.

It is my understanding that when doctors first started trying to develop treatments for cancer, they initially used drugs which were already approved for other uses. In the article posted above, I think they mention that they are trying to find other drugs that operate in a similar fashion. Perhaps they will find one with few or mild side effects.

A few years ago, there seemed to be such a claim for DCA, (Dichloroacetic Acid) but I don't think it has panned out.

There have been occasional stories to the effect that Schizophrenics have immunity to certain cancers, maybe the drugs they were on affected the statistics.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/short ... s-and.html

Some of the research done, especially with using drugs like this, seems to indicate that cancer shares metabolic and other malfunctions, and that treating these might be more useful than traditional chemical and radiation treatments.

Here is an article describing a gene linking both cancer and aging.



Key gene found responsible for chronic inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer

Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have, for the first time, identified a single gene that simultaneously controls inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer. "This was certainly an unexpected finding," said principal investigator Robert J. Schneider, PhD, the Albert Sabin Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis, associate director for translational research and co-director of the Breast Cancer Program at NYU Langone Medical Center. "It is rather uncommon for one gene to have two very different and very significant functions that tie together control of aging and inflammation. The two, if not regulated properly, can eventually lead to cancer development. It's an exciting scientific find."

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/0 ... and.cancer

kunkmiester wrote:http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/short ... s-and.html

Some of the research done, especially with using drugs like this, seems to indicate that cancer shares metabolic and other malfunctions, and that treating these might be more useful than traditional chemical and radiation treatments.

Good article. It implies that DCA is not dead yet.

Diogenes wrote:Key gene found responsible for chronic inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer
...
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/0 ... and.cancer

Obvious disadvantages later in life. What advantage does that gene offer earlier in life?