Cancer continues to be one of our greatest health concerns. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, nearly 1 in 2 Canadians will develop one form of cancer in their lifetimes. But treatments are getting better and more lives are being saved thanks to new treatments. On this week’s show, we’re going to take a closer look at three new strategies that may soon lead to cures and also vaccines.
Our first guest is one of Canada’s premier cancer researchers, John Bell at the Ottawa Hopsital Research Institute. He has been working on ways to combat cancer for decades and his work is showing promise in clinical trials. But rather than chemotherapy or radiation, his approach is to use viruses and our own immune system.
We first talk about the use of viruses to destroy cancer. Viruses are known to kill human cells and Bell has been programming certain types to target cancer cells while leaving our healthy cells alone. We explore how this is performed in the lab and how the process works in the human body. We also explore how viruses may one day be used as a vaccine to alert the immune system that something has gone wrong.
We then discuss how cancer the immune system can also be used to improve the fight against cancer. Usually, cancers can avoid being detected by our immunity and grow without any worry for attack. Bell had found ways to develop immune cells that specifically look for tumours and kill them. They are known as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells, or CAR-T cells. This approach has been effective at tackling leukemia and research is showing we may be able to battle other cancers as well. As for making a vaccine, Bell suggests that we may be able to use these CAR-T cells as a means to train the immune system to identify cancers when they start and destroy them before they can cause harm.
In our SASS Class, we look at an upcoming treatment that unfortunately is surrounded by hype. The use of stem cells. Our guest teacher is Riam Shamaa, who has been studying the effect of stem cells on various diseases including cancer. We explore how stem cells can be used to fight the disease and also why we are not yet at a stage when people should put their trust in this approach. It may be useful in the future but for the moment, you shouldn’t believe the hype.
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Twitter: @JATetro
Email: thegermguy@gmail.com
Guests:
John Bell
Web: http://www.ohri.ca/profile/jbell
Riam Shammaa
Web: www.Intellistemtech.com
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