5 ms·
My dad was fortunate enough to get into a trial at Sloan for Obinutuzumab for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. At the moment, after 6 weeks of treatment, the perc
by zzzeek 4y ago
My dad was fortunate enough to get into a trial at Sloan for Obinutuzumab for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. At the moment, after 6 weeks of treatment, the percent of cancerous cells in his bone marrow has gone from 95% to 5%. The treatment was very intense as it overloads the kidneys on the first few treatments due to the dramatic amount of cells being flushed out. This is a cancer for which there was not much treatment previously other than extreme chemotherapy which still left little hope for complete remission. A family friend was also treated for Non-Hodgkins' lymphoma on another drug trial and she's now in full remission.
my uninformed impression is that there's a lot of new cancer treatments happening now that can turn the tide for a lot of types of cancer.
- fnordpiglet 4y agoI’m glad to hear about the positive outcomes for your dad. I hope he beats the cancer. It’s an exciting time to be alive.
- abirch 4y agoThat's great for your dad. Thank you for also distinguishing between types of cancer and the nebulous term cancer, many people don't make the distinction.
- zzzeek 4y agogoogled first to get the correct spellings and all that, been on hacker news a long time...
- adamredwoods 4y agoFor leukemia, there are a lot of promising new treatments and clinical trials. For metastatic solid-state tumors, much less. We're still in the dark ages of cancer treatment.
- axpy906 4y agoWhat treatments in particular?
- adamredwoods 4y agoCar-T seems promising for leukemia and lymphoma, but not as efficacious in solid tumors: https://www.lls.org/treatment/types-treatment/immunotherapy/chimeric-antigen-receptor-car-t-cell-therapy https://www.lls.org/treatment/types-treatment/immunotherapy/... Also 2nd gen BTK inhibitors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acalabrutinib https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acalabrutinib https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruton%27s_tyrosine_kinase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruton%27s_tyrosine_kinase
- elhudy 4y agoBTK inhibitors are technically in 3rd gen (noncovalent) already if you can get in the trials (which are very promising considering they use the same mechanism).
- gjreda 4y agoImatinib (Gleevac) revolutionized treatment for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Prior to the drug’s discovery, CML patients generally had seven years to live (possibly less depending on how advanced the cancer was). Now their lifespan mirrors the general population. I’d highly recommend the book The Philadelphia Chromosome if you’re interested in learning more.
- macdaknife 4y agoI am currently taking a similar drug for Myelofibrosis on a clinical trial holed up after a stem cell transplant here at MD Anderson Cancer Center. It's called Itacitinib, and is supposed to prevent GVHD. It's by the same company that makes Jakafi (brand name). These are expensive drugs for sure, and my DR is running the clinical trial. Just wanted to chime in from the inside. ;p
- moneywoes 4y ago
- robocat 4y agoFYI: your comment is a unique result for “metastatic solid-state tumors”[1], so much much less? [1] https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=%22metastatic+solid-state+tumors%22&tbs=li:1 https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=%22metastatic+solid-state+...
- DarylZero 4y agoWe talking tumors in the state of metastatic solid?
- SnowHill9902 4y agoI think he means just solid in the sense that it’s not moving cells.
- lmeyerov 4y agoI think the usual split of solid tumor vs blood (aka 'hematologic' or 'heme')
- WheatM 4y ago
- beefman 4y agoThe "-state" part is the neologism. GP meant "solid tumors" or "solid cancers".
- pc86 4y agoProbably a decade ago a friend of mine passed from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in his 20s. I'm not sure what the differences are between ALL and CLL (other than knowing the differences between acute and chronic in a more general sense of course) but glad to see they are making at least some progress.
- zzzeek 4y agothe chronic form is often written off when first diagnosed as "it will never affect you" - it can take decades to cause bigger problems. Dad's 80 and it's been causing bigger problems for some years. It would be surprising if there aren't new treatments for the acute form you mention as well.
- philjohn 4y agoSimilar story to the husband of my sister-in-law's sister (I think that's how you say it). Metastatic Melanoma, had spread to his stomach. Got on the trial for Ipilimumab and is still here a decade and change later.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- digisign 4y agoCurious about the drug for non-hodgkins lymphoma, may have helped a friend who passed last year. Too late on one hand, but promising for future folks.
- psktcpssl 4y ago
- peter_l_downs 4y agoThat's amazing news. A close friend of mine recently died of this same leukemia (pretty sure.) I wish you and your family the best of luck.
- stickyricky 4y agoSorry to hear about your dad but I'm happy he's doing better.