#prostvac

USANDO O SISTEMA AUTO-IMUNE CONTRA O CÂNCER

  Eu arriscaria a opinião de que ainda estamos no início, mas num início promissor no que concerne o uso do nosso próprio sistema “defensivo” contra o câncer da próstata.

Várias “vacinas” terapêuticas estão em desenvolvimento, sendo que algumas já terminaram pesquisas Fase II e avançam em outras pesquisas, em andamento, Fase III. Entre elas, PROSTVAC, sobre a qual divulguei algumas…

USANDO O SISTEMA AUTO-IMUNE CONTRA O CÂNCER

  Eu arriscaria a opinião de que ainda estamos no início, mas num início promissor no que concerne o uso do nosso próprio sistema “defensivo” contra o câncer da próstata. Várias “vacinas” terapêuticas estão em desenvolvimento, sendo que algumas já terminaram pesquisas Fase II e avançam em outras pesquisas, em andamento, Fase III. Entre elas, PROSTVAC, sobre a qual divulguei algumas informações, e…

Hmmm... this was rather disappointing to read. I did Provenge back in 2012. But then doing some follow up reading I ran across this:

Insight: New doubts about prostate-cancer vaccine Provenge

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/30/us-provenge-idUSBRE82T07420120330

Somewhat disturbing to say the least. The question is, who/what do you believe? 

I was considered to be the ideal candidate for Provenge. Young (by mCRPC - metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer standards), still healthy with a functional immune system. In other words, most likely to get the biggest bang for the buck... Did it help? Well, despite some ups and downs since then, I'm still here. Did it cure me? No. But no one claimed it would. The whole idea was to beef up my immune system to help slow the disease progression and buy more time. 

There will always be controversy and detractors when a "disruptive" therapy emerges. Provenge was the first of its kind for prostate cancer. The opportunity for fudged results exists in any clinical trial. I have no idea if the claims in the Reuters article are true. You'd think that there would have been some major coverage if was. But who knows?..