A revolutionary cancer treatment could transform autoimmune disease
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As usual, readers keen to learn more might want to visit Derek Lowe's Science.org pharmacology and biochemistry blog, since he frequently writes about CAR‑T among other topics. The below is from March, although not much more there than in TFA:
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/latest-car-t-work
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/latest-car-t-work
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I don't think "stopping a patient's heart and then restarting it" (the equivalent of IT's hard reset) would really work here, though...
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Science! 
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my wife, who has multiple auto-immune conditions (Hashimoto's disease, SLE, Sjögren’s syndrome, Fibromyalgia, MCAS just to name most) and we have looked into this last summer. It's quite hard to get a doctor to get on board with this. My wife would like to try this (we have done two biologics and both caused some severe depression and headaches which was bad enough for her to have to quit early) but between doctors not knowing enough about it and the insurance company playing coy it's been a real uphill fight just to get the right the people to read up on it much less prescribe the procedure for her. I hope it becomes more main stream soon.
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It's more like re-imaging (or deploying a fresh instance) rather than trying to debug.
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This shit is gonna cause autism, it'll get out of hand. You people can't handle the truth. Brain worms..
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As the son and nephew of MS patients, one of whom died of it, this looks like potentially very good news. However, we have to work out both some sort of factory production of the CAR T cells, and a less brutal way of inducing the immune system reboot. Meanwhile, I try to keep an anti-inflammatory background in my body. First low dose Vitamin D, as MS prevalence varies with latitude. Second regular Omega-3s, mainly from (mercury-free) walnuts. Third a daily Naprosyn, which is only recommended if your pharmacogenetics are simpatico, and luckily mine are. Good oral hygiene, to prevent low level gum inflammation. And lastly weight down and a lot of exercise. Of course all of those also work for the heart. Especially using Naprosyn rather than any other NSAID.
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Retrospective autism? Yet another new disease discovered by MAGA.
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Much as I dislike the idea, however, ECT properly applied can be effective in otherwise untreatable depression (it worked on my aunt), and artificially induced coma is used to treat certain types of brain malfunction.
There is as yet no equivalent of placebo effect, curing a random computer glitch by feeding it a blank micro SD card and telling it that it is a new experimental treatment.
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We are sure that was actually a brain worm and not the functioning part of Kennedy's brain making a dash for freedom?
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"If you get cancer, you should just walk it off. And eat more beef fat!"
Robert Kennedy
Robert Kennedy
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I was diagnosed with high-risk multiple myeloma in September of '25. I just went through autologous stem cell transplant in March. Once this fails, the next discussion with our oncologist/hematologist is about CAR-T. To say that this treatment has changed the tone of the MM community is an understatement. There are, thankfully, multiple lines of treatment for this particular disease now but bi-specifics and CAR-T are definitely where most of the excitement is coming from. Patients who had exhausted all other lines of treatment due to relaps and refactory disease are seeing success again with this. I hate the term miracle because it tends to undersell the value of the hardwork, dedication and brilliaince of the scientists involved but they have truly produced a miracle here - and one that is able to be iterated upon to get better and better.
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Between this therapy to reset an immune system gone awry and the recent finding on certain vaccinations possibly priming the immune system against unrelated pathogens, I think we're close to extending lifespans and quality of life for a lot of people in the developed world. Now, to find a way of making these treatments available for all...
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I think that you are assuming that the grifting module is not the functioning part. Where did you get that quaint notion?
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IMHO I don't think the term "miracle" undersells people's effort so long as you make it clear that these people have made a miracle. Versus saying it's a miracle, and handwaving away the countless hours of human effort that made it happen.
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Maybe I missed it within the text, but this research path is being hailed as the possible ‘the fix’ in the diabetes type 1 community.
NIH.gov
More on the cancer front:
Cancer.gov
NIH.gov
More on the cancer front:
Cancer.gov
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As the article says, current anti-MS "disease modifying" drugs also do a number on the patient's B cells. My neurologist regularly orders bloodwork, which reports "abnormal" low levels of B cells--levels we'd worry about if it wasn't the goal.
"Disease-modifying agents" aren't cures, and don't address existing symptoms, they only keep it from getting worse. I would love a treatment that reversed at least some of the damage, even if it wasn't a complete cure.
"Disease-modifying agents" aren't cures, and don't address existing symptoms, they only keep it from getting worse. I would love a treatment that reversed at least some of the damage, even if it wasn't a complete cure.
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I was thinking both the discovery of and the embracing/practice of retroactive birth control in the MAGA world would serve all parties involved infinitely better.
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Type I diabetes is very much an autoimmune disease, and seems like an excellent candidate for this treatment.
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I find it preferable that authors don't make readers click on a link or do searches to find out what an acronym stands for. In this case, CAR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAR_T_cell
Yes, the link in the third paragraph labeled "reprogramming the patient’s immune cells" got me the info too. But it would have been so easy to simply include the words "chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)" somewhere in the text.
As for the new therapies... excellent!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAR_T_cell
Yes, the link in the third paragraph labeled "reprogramming the patient’s immune cells" got me the info too. But it would have been so easy to simply include the words "chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)" somewhere in the text.
As for the new therapies... excellent!
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The issue with the "go back in time to give Hitler's mother the pill" time travel story is that if you do, of course, Hitler never having existed means you never needed to go back in time, and the only question is the frequency of the resulting infinite loop.
Perhaps one day it will be discovered that a time traveller actually did go back in time to prevent the pandemic that wiped out 95% of the human race, but owing to temporal and spatial imprecision and disorientation, shot the wrong Kennedy.
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Though it doesn't have the same punch as 'miracle' and is watered down from click bait hype, it's nice to see 'game changer' used appropriately, and so humbly too:
Paradigm shift, disruptor, revolutionary and so on all work even if overused. Perhaps 'marvel' would be close to miracle?
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You may benefit from finding a doctor outside your metro (quite possibly out of state; I’m assuming you’re an American). They might be at or associated with a university.
A chatbot might help you find one but it’s worthwhile to read through forums for people with the conditions you listed.
You’d be looking for a doc that has helped people get the treatment they need and actually understands the conditions your wife has in detail.
If you’re after something experimental, then ideally you want someone that has been involved in some way with the treatment you’re after.
Another way to source names of docs is to find academic papers/articles/books written about your wife’s condition(s).
If a doc is a co-author of something covering your wife’s condition(s), they clearly have more that a passing interest. Not all of these docs see patients but many do.
If money is tight, there might be a reduced rate option (especially if it’s a university sponsored medical practice); but your regular health insurance may well cover it. There may also be charities that could help cover travel expenses if needed.
You (or anyone else) can PM me if you have questions I might be able to answer.
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Back in 2018 when I was unfortunate enough to need to know about new treatments for blood cancers, and CAR-T was just recently approved for some lymphomas and lymphoblastic leukemias, "miracle" was the exact word used by doctors in conversations with me to describe the way the reprogrammed cells devour lymphomas overnight.
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Don't let brainworm know about this. ie Don't put the CAR T before the horses ass.
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Great job being pro-active. The lots of exercise bit falls apart once you get the joint and muscle pain, the weight maintenance falls once the metabolism sinks and one can no longer build muscle or tolerate exercise, and so does sleeping well. Insomnia is a symptom of a lot of auto-immune issues. And also causes a lot of issues. I didn’t used to understand, but my vigorous health fell apart in my fifties and all of my strategies for keeping healthy and free of depression have run smack into physical reality.
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One of the problems with current CAR T cell therapy is that it is "ex vivo" - that this is dependent upon extraction and purification of the patient's T cells then reinfusion, which is difficult and costly. There is now quite a lot of interest in reprogramming the patient cells "in vivo". Namely, a vector is injected into the patient's bloodstream, that reprograms the cells in situ, so no extractio and reinfusion needed. Still a long way off, but recent interesting results in mice (so still quite a way from humans)
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Thank you tax payers for funding the NIH and NSF research agencies, please keep funding them.
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I am sorry to hear that you have not done well. I am aware that I have been very lucky in that I have never had something truly debilitating happen to me, so I can keep the good habits going. I loved cycling in the outdoors, but moved 100% indoors in my mid-60s, when the realization that the next fall would quite likely end my ability to exercise at will sunk in; after a decade of not listening to my wife. The advantage of this, other than the safety aspect, is that one can tailor a workout to how one feels, and get some benefit even on bad days. And never have to worry about being exhausted with a 20 mile ride home into the wind. It was very boring at first, but then I went through all 7 seasons of Deep Space Nine, and now I am addicted to Korean TV, so the side effects are tolerable. Now off to bike for a while!
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That's also true of my wife. She was very active and vigorous, and has been struggling heroically to maintain her activity even as rheumatoid arthritis saps her mobility. The best diets and lifestyles can only do so much. Sometimes, we need the ability to take drastic steps.
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"F it. reformat" is the best advice any IT member can give or receive.
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