3 ms·

I disagree that the title "hides" that the title was small and that it disappeared for two weeks. The surviving contingent on the E. americana strain was evalua

I disagree that the title "hides" that the title was small and that it disappeared for two weeks. The surviving contingent on the E. americana strain was evaluated for 60 days, and the tumor doesn't look particularly small based on the picture on page 8 of the paper. I think the study size is small (n=5) so we'd like to see more large-scale studies next, but it's already a strong result to show 5/5 (100%) at p < 0.0001 for multiple primary endpoints and the absence of success from comparable bacteria is helpful to frame future research. The absence of long-term side effects and only transient weight-loss followed by 15-day weight gain is also intriguing. I'm not a doctor, oncologist, or cancer researcher, but the methodology looks sound and appropriate to me, as does the title, based on reading the paper.

gus_massa 3mo ago
> The surviving contingent on the E. americana strain was evaluated for 60 days The article says > The surviving contingent on the E. americana strain was evaluated for 60 days (Supplementary Figure S5). The supplementary material only shows a reshot with cancer cells at the day 30. All the other parts also days a total of 60 days. At day 0 the cancer cells were injected, approximately at day 10 the bacteria were injected, and approximately at day 20 the cancer disappeared. So correct my initial comment and say that it's 40 days cancer free. When the title says "eradication" most people interpret "forever". That is too optimistic and unrealistic, but a 5 years survival rate is somewhat a standard point. 15 or 40 days is too short to know if there are some hidden metastasis, they need more time to grow and be visible. Also, the initial treatment is only 10 days after the initial shot with cancer cells. IIRC it's an aggressive cancer variant in mice variant that has a crappy inmune system. Gut cancer in humans are detected when they block the guts or bleed or in periodic colonoscopy every few years, so they usually have more than 10 days to develop before detection. Note that this setup in mice is good for initial test and to filter the promising treatments as they did, but it's difficult to extrapolate to long term treatment of humans.

gus_massa 3mo ago

> The surviving contingent on the E. americana strain was evaluated for 60 days The article says > The surviving contingent on the E. americana strain was evaluated for 60 days (Supplementary Figure S5). The supplementary material only shows a reshot with cancer cells at the day 30. All the other parts also days a total of 60 days. At day 0 the cancer cells were injected, approximately at day 10 the bacteria were injected, and approximately at day 20 the cancer disappeared. So correct my initial comment and say that it's 40 days cancer free. When the title says "eradication" most people interpret "forever". That is too optimistic and unrealistic, but a 5 years survival rate is somewhat a standard point. 15 or 40 days is too short to know if there are some hidden metastasis, they need more time to grow and be visible. Also, the initial treatment is only 10 days after the initial shot with cancer cells. IIRC it's an aggressive cancer variant in mice variant that has a crappy inmune system. Gut cancer in humans are detected when they block the guts or bleed or in periodic colonoscopy every few years, so they usually have more than 10 days to develop before detection. Note that this setup in mice is good for initial test and to filter the promising treatments as they did, but it's difficult to extrapolate to long term treatment of humans.