Korean found lung cancer "cure"

[wop]

io9 - Scientists Use The AIDS Virus To Cure Cancer - Virus cures lung cancer

HIV has been one of the worst killers of the past few decades worldwide — but now it may yield a cure for cancer. Scientists in Korea have been using the virus to cure lung cancer (in mice, at least.)

South Korean scientist Myung-Haing Cho modified a lentivirus, a genus in the Retroviridae family which includes most mammal immunodeficiency viruses, to deliver to lung-cancer tumors a gene, which inhibits cancer cells from reproducing in mice's lungs. Their method of choice? A nasal spray.

They had various cancer-ridden mice sniff the modified lentivirus twice a week for a month, and they found that the modified virus completely halted the progression of the lung cancer without harm to the non-cancerous tissue. In some cases, existing cancer cells even died off without further therapy.

Scientists consider modified lentiviruses ideal for cancer therapy (in addition to other gene therapies) because it affects even non-replicating cells (like neurons) and can create long term changes, positive changes in genes.

Of course, anybody who's seen I Am Legend knows that the "genetically engineered virus that fights cancer" thing can only end one way.

No comment -_- fucking koreans

[Silenka]

Too bad I am Legend wasn't really supposed to be about cancer virus zombies =(

While interesting, I don't think I trust it. Too many things could go wrong >.>

[wop]

So the cure for swine flu is obviously ebola.

[Pikarya]

The cure for an attention whore is shitting up general with news we heard already.

fixed

[Blabj]

inb4 curing aids with cancer.

[Kuya]

You got your AIDS in my cancer.

[Sunrider]

Fuck, not in before "I Am Legend" reference.

Seems humanity is doomed to completely miss the lessons the past have to teach, like learning that using living things as a method of control over other living things usually ends poorly.

[Tonko]

The cure for an attention whore is shitting up general with news we heard already.

fixed

This is a different news story, first time it was posted here on BG, unless it's burried deep in some other thread.

Please link the other thread if you're going to take the time to call someone out on re-posting information.

[MisterBob]

Fuck, not in before "I Am Legend" reference.

Seems humanity is doomed to completely miss the lessons the past have to teach, like learning that using living things as a method of control over other living things usually ends poorly.

A virus...a living thing? Wut

[Kerberoz]

Fuck, not in before "I Am Legend" reference.

Seems humanity is doomed to completely miss the lessons the past have to teach, like learning that using living things as a method of control over other living things usually ends poorly.

I guess you don't eat any modern crops or livestock, own a dog, or receive vaccinations?

[Tomk]

I guess you don't eat any modern crops or livestock, own a dog, or receive vaccinations?

They inject the corn with e-coli. What was the name of that documentary? "The Future of Food" or something like that. Scary shit.

[kuronosan]

Interesting. Always knew lentivirus or other types that use reverse transcriptase would be ideal for curing mutational diseases.

Good on them if they can get it to work for other cancers too.

[thatwasnifty]

I hate this sort of sensationalist science journalism. The headline alone makes it sound like some wacky dangerous mad scientist shit that'll end up spreading disease instead of curing it, when it's really just simple gene therapy any student would learn in a freshman level biology class.

[kuronosan]

Well, exactly. Genetically modified viruses are responsible for a great deal of viral therapy that exists today... not to mention that modified viruses are completely harmless.

By "AIDS" virus they mean a lentivirus, which is a form of retrovirus that alters the basic human DNA to replicate itself using immune cells.

They're not using HIV, because it mutates too much. They're using a non-pathogenic type (which is very common).

Brilliant, really.

[thatwasnifty]

Oh, I agree that it's brilliant, and I hope it can be developed into an actual human drug. My problem is just with this coverage, because it's begging to be misinterpreted. People have enough distrust of science and medicine as it is, and this type of shoddy journalism only contributes further to it.

[kuronosan]

Well, journalism doesn't exist to tell the truth. It exists to establish a fanbase. That's why you don't hear stories from most good journalists. You hear them from news stations.

[thatwasnifty]

That doesn't make it any less bullshit.

[Kaslo]

So...

1. Smoke and Get Cancer
2. Have Sex and Get AIDS
3. ????
4. Profit?

[Seraph]

Lies, there hasn't been a new "cure" for a disease in decades. Potentially effective treatments are not cures. When cancer goes away forever, then it is cured.

[ZarakiKujata]

They inject the corn with e-coli. What was the name of that documentary? "The Future of Food" or something like that. Scary shit.

Can you provide some documentation about this? I took an agricultural ethics/politics class this semester and have seen King Corn and Food, Inc. and this never came up in any of the movies/readings I have come across. What is the reason for injecting corn with e. coli? It's already the root cause of every single e. coli outbreak in other vegetables/meat that has happened in the last ~20 years, why inject even more into it lol.