PROGRESS REPORT

                 A WARM DAY, ON SANTORINI

Here is a summary of recent research directions specific to ovarian cancer.  As we all know by now, immunotherapy has been disappointing in the treatment of OVCA, although to this the author is cautiously (and vaguely) optimistic.  Several treatments that help prolong life are mentioned – including PARPi, with which you are already familiar.  Acronyms you might not recognize are TP53 inhibitors, and Wee 1 inhibitors.  Both interfere with cell division and thus “inhibit” the proliferation of fast-dividing cancer cells.  Alas, not cures, but helpful all the same.

This is an oral presentation, which I was unable to play owing to the fact that my computer was designed sometime in the 19^th century.  Fortunately, a printed summary also is required.  I wonder what I missed.

https://www.targetedonc.com/view/future-directions-in-ovarian-cancer 

 

 

HEALTH ADVICE FROM THE STOCK MARKET

                 Two of my all-time favorite creatures

I am almost ashamed of this posting.  Almost.  I found it trolling for stock-market tips, but subsequently verified it with some legitimate bio-investigation.  It appears that an outfit that calls itself Clovis Oncology has ascertained that its new oral drug Rubraca improves PFS (Progression Free Survival) to a significant degree.  While not the Holy Grail, this certainly is welcome progress. Clovis stock promptly shot up 17%.

 If you have OVCA, heaven forfend, make sure your oncologist knows about this new stuff.

Note that I am definitely not recommending that you sink your nest egg into Clovis stock (CLVS; $6.14/share as of right now).  As far as I can see, Clovis has yet to make a profit.  But I hope someday soon they do.

ANOTHER "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW" ESSAY

                  Linda and her Mom on Marion's wedding day

I know, you probably are getting tired of me shirking my duties and simply referring you to the latest “everything you need to know” article, but this one really is useful and you should read it.  Besides, I know you mainly look at my blogs for the pretty pictures of Linda.

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/explore-ovarian-cancer-treatments-through-clinical-trials 

 

CHRONIC PAIN" WHO NEEDS IT?

              TWO OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE

NIH Director Francis Collins has newly blogged about a very interesting and important biochemical development; a means to combat chronic pain. 

I can imagine nothing much worse than living with chronic pain.  Hell, there are nights – not many of them, thankfully – when a tiny little ache somewhere in my aging body will require me to choose between several undesirable courses of action:  either gulp down more pain pills than are good for me, or gut it out, lose sleep, and feel like crap the next day.   Admittedly, I’m no hero, but I can’t imagine surviving with serious pain that never lets up.  Some cancer patients on chemo experience just that.  I hope this discovery helps.

It appears that a scientist at UC San Diego, assisted by 13 graduate students and post docs -  no wonder these guys are so productive! – has found a way to deactivate a gene that plays a major role in the “pain” experience.  He got the idea from studying the genomes of those rare persons born with a total inability to hurt.  (Did you know such folks existed?  I certainly didn’t.)  The tool involved is our old friend CRISPR Cas9, with the gene-snipping enzyme deactivated.  A significant advantage of this new wrinkle is that it can be reversed.  Here, read Dr. Collin’s usual lucid prose:

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2021/04/01/could-crispr-gene-editing-technology-be-an-answer-to-chronic-pain/ 

LINDA'S 39th

                              March 19, 1982

 

Today Linda would be enjoying her 39^th wedding anniversary, if ovarian cancer had not taken her away from us.  Progress in eliminating OVCA is being made almost daily, but there still is a long way to go.  Please consider donating to her fund at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Canter:

https://secure.fredhutch.org/site/TR/PersonalFundraisingPages/General?px=1148821&pg=personal&fr_id=1573 

It has almost been ten years, but I still miss her as if it were yesterday.  I know that many of you feel the same.

 

MORE INTERESTING RESEARCH

                                             Linda and friend

                            Somewhere in northern Mexico

                                                   A long time ago

Here is another example of the unholy (or at least peculiar) alliance between Biotech and Wall Street. 

A tiny (3 person!) outfit out of San Jose, CA, has just announced a European patent on what sounds to me like a damned good anti-OVCA vaccine.  The outfit is called Anixa Biosciences; stock market symbol ANIX, currently going at $5.40/share.  As far as I can see, Anixa has never made a profit – at least not in the last four years – and appears to not have had any revenue in 2020!  Do not regard this as a stock-marketing tip!

But Anixa, in company with several dudes from something called the Cleveland Clinic, has produced and is attempting to market what appears to me to be a most valuable contribution to the task of ridding the world of ovarian cancer.  It appears that there is a protein (with a ponderous name – see the link below) that is expressed in the ovaries of pre-menopausal women.  With menopause it goes away.  However, with the onset of OVCA it comes back and contributes to caner growth (I think).  Anyway, these San Jose/Cleveland people have developed a vaccine, to be administered to post-menopausal females.  This vaccine induces the immune system to destroy the unnecessary and unwanted protein, apparently thus inhibiting cancer growth.  At least, that’s what I make of it.  Here, read it for yourself:

https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/2021/03/13/cleveland-clinic-ovarian-cancer-vaccine-innovation-issued-european-patent 

"IT AIN'T CELL SCIENCE"

                                       WHAT A WONDERFUL PICTURE!

For as long as I can remember, and that is getting to be rather much, the phrase “it ain’t rocket science” has been used to imply that some matter or other was relatively simple.  Well, from now on I propose to use “it ain’t cell science” for the same purpose.  If you tackle this article

https://immunology.sciencemag.org/content/6/57/eabh3184   

you may agree. 

 (Remember that this blurb actually represents the original research boiled down into a form we ordinary folks hopefully can understand).  Hell, all rocket science requires is a little physics, a lot of mathematics, and a whopping big computer.  Cell science requires all that, plus a huge load of chemistry, a billion dollar electron microscope, and God-given faith that you can properly manipulate things you can’t see.   If rocket science were trigonometry, cell science would be something like partial differential equations!

So, don’t ask me what the article says cause I ain’t no rocket scientist.  Translate it yourself.