Month: January 2015

How to ride the new wave of immune therapies | Prof Brendon Coventry and Jill O’Donnell-Tormey PhD Show the Way

Good news on cancer: There is a definite change in the wind! The face of oncology is changing. Both cancer patients and oncologists are undergoing a cancer metamorphosis. Treatments are moving – albeit slowly from a killing cancer focus to a focus on retraining the body’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells.

Good news on cancer: There is a definite change in the wind! The face of oncology is changing. Both cancer patients and oncologists are undergoing a cancer metamorphosis. Treatments are moving – albeit slowly from a killing cancer focus to a focus on retraining the body’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells.

Riding the wave of new immune therapies. Pic: ABC News
Riding the wave of new immune therapies. Pic: ABC News

Last week on Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio Prof Brendon Coventry spoke about cancer vaccines and in particular about his success treating advanced melanoma.

He also spoke about the importance of measuring a patient’s immune cycle as a new approach to that value-adds to the “New Wave” of immunotherapy treatments against cancer.

Click here to listen to that interview if you missed it – (live streaming or download on itunes to listen later at no cost).

Questions from cancer patients clearly demonstrate a thirst for knowledge about immune therapies.

Therefore – today – I have replayed my interview from mid last year(2014) with Cancer Research Institute’s CEO Jill O’Donnell-Tormey PhD.  Click Jill’s name to be redirected to the interview on Voice America internet radio. In this interview Jill provided a clear picture of where immune therapies are headed and what they actually do and where you can find trials and treatments.
VISIT:  http://www.theanswertocancer.org/

Jill talks about the new immunotherapy pharmaceuticals – an innovative class of drugs that block PD-1.  (Stands for programmed cell death protein 1). PD-1 inhibitors, activate the immune system to attack tumors and are therefore used to treat cancer.  These drugs have complex names such as nivolumab successfully used in non-small-cell lung cancer, melanoma, and renal-cell cancer; Pembrolizumab; intended for use in treating metastatic melanoma; to name but a few. Then there are CTLA-4 antibodies such as Ipilimumab; a fully human, monoclonal antibody that overcomes CTLA-4–mediated T-cell suppression to enhance the immune response against tumors.

Anti-PD-1 and Anti-PD-L1 Antibodies – Unlike CTLA-4 antibodies, the PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies aim to potentiate the antitumor T-cell response at a tumor-specific level, by impairing the interaction of the inhibitory receptor PD-1 on T cells with PD-L1 expressed on tumor cells

Cancer patients as well as doctors and oncologists are having to learn a new language and a new way of thinking about cancer. The process is slow – but the most important people in cancer medicine –  patients; need to know the basics and what to ask of their oncologists because these new immune drugs, cancer vaccines and immune timing of treatments, appears to hold the key to curing cancers.

As I see it – the only caution right now is that patients may be rushing to overseas alternative clinics who promote the new elaborate cocktails of immune therapies. Skill and experience is required in using these new immune treatments- best to ask an expert.

Now – back to Prof Coventry and Martin Ashdown’s work for some additional information….
There are many studies that demonstrate that conclusions made by Prof Brendon Coventry and Martin Ashdown that propose that our immune system has a rhythm that can be measured especially when a patient has advancing cancer.

T lymphocytes (orange colour) assembling to kill cancer
T lymphocytes (orange colour) assembling to kill cancer

 It is known that Cytokines (cell signalling molecules that aid cell to cell communication in immune responses and stimulate the movement of cells towards sites of inflammation, infection and trauma), are crucial mediators for shaping immune responses. Cytokines are important regulators of both the innate and adaptive immune response.

The following from the Journal of Immunology Research 2014 – states that Several parameters of the immune system exhibit oscillations with a period of approximately 24 hours that refers to “circadian rhythms.” Such daily variations in host immune system status might evolve to maximize immune reactions at times when encounters with pathogens are most likely to occur. However, the mechanisms behind circadian immunity have not been fully understood. Recent studies reveal that the internal time keeping system “circadian clock” plays a key role in driving the daily rhythms evident in the immune system. Importantly, several studies unveil molecular mechanisms of how certain clock proteins (e.g., BMAL1 and CLOCK) temporally regulate expression of cytokines. Since cytokines are crucial mediators for shaping immune responses, this review mainly summarizes the new knowledge that highlights an emerging role of the circadian clock as a novel regulator of cytokines. Continue reading “Review Article
Temporal Regulation of Cytokines by the Circadian Clock” at: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2014/614529/

Research such as the above; should encourage us to support the important work on immune synchronization and timing of cancer treatments recently pioneered by Prof Brendon Coventry (and Martin Ashdown) as featured on my internet radio show: Navigating the Cancer Maze 23 January 2015; please see interviews and links below.

Biological_clock_human_svgProfessor Coventry’s first interview listed on the Science show with Robin Williams was broadcast : Saturday 17 April 2010 !! At last there is an intervention that can positively impact outcomes of treatments and that is relatively non invasive (apart from a series of blood tests over a 2 week period).

The information graphed from results can tell you when your window of opportunity for optimum response from your cancer treatments will be. It is my hope that patients will take the time to read and understand the research on both the immune system and immune synchronization of cancer treatments and its exciting implications and begin to ask for their immune systems rhythm to be measured and evaluated.

Prof Brendon Coventry Adelaide, South Australia
Prof Brendon Coventry Adelaide, South Australia

Prof Brendon Coventry says immune system rhythm, may be a fundamental discovery. Implications are better health and reduced costs for the health system. A survey showed that tumours disappear completely in just 7% of patients when treated with chemotherapy. Did the time of administering chemotherapy have an effect? Daily blood measurements show fluctuation in inflammatory markers in the blood. A cycle emerged. It’s now thought the immune system is being regulated, being switched on and off against the tumour. The periodicity is roughly 7 days. This matters, as hitting the immune system with chemicals when it isn’t receptive might be ineffective.

For more information visit the following URLs

Melanoma Study:

http;//www.immunotherapyofcancer.orgcontentpdf2051-1426-2-9.pdf

Immune System pulsing – Timing of Treatment

Martin Ashdown Window of Opportunity1

Be a particicipant in the medicines and approaches that could save your life!

until next time…..
Grace

Why Innovative Oncology is an Effective Way to Tackle Cancer

Today on Navigating the Cancer Maze I speak with Prof Brendon Coventry about melanoma and in particular, vaccines against melanoma. But more than a melanoma treatment, Cancer Vaccines are showing up as not only as a part of innovative and integrated oncology approaches; but as likely treatments for other types of cancers that have failed conventional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy protocols.

Today on Navigating the Cancer Maze I speak with Prof Brendon Coventry about melanoma and in particular, vaccines against melanoma. But more than a only a melanoma treatment, Cancer Vaccines are showing up as not only as a part of innovative and integrated oncology approaches; but as likely treatments for other types of cancers that have failed conventional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy protocols. For example Jeffrey Deslandes, who after 4 recurrences of NH lymphoma – found his success with cancer vaccines. He is 9 years clear of the disease.

Prof Brendon Coventry with Grace Gawler
Prof Brendon Coventry with Grace Gawler

 The combination of Surgical Oncologist  in combination with a PhD in Immunology – is rare; but this is what Prof Coventry brings to the cancer “treatment table”. He has many years experience in cancer research, vaccine therapies and the role of the immune system in cancer control.

To Listen to audio of show – 4 sessions – select  each link below

Listen to Navigating the Cancer Maze-with Prof Brendon Coventry

Sessions one to four  with

Remember the show is for you and sponsored by our charity – The Grace Gawler Institute. It is free to air and free to listen live streaming within an hour of live broadcast. It is archived indefinitely on my Voice America Page. Crucial to the shows intention – to educate patients and families about the availability of  scientifically valid cancer treatments and safe and effective complementary medicine; we ask that you forward the ecard (available on the website) or URL to those you know who are trying to navigate the increasingly complex cancer maze.

Every week, some 160,000 people die of advanced cancer around the world, despite our best attempts at cancer treatment globally. Some $32 billion is being spent on oncology drugs and the USA National Cancer Institute/ NIH spends about $5.2 billion on cancer research, per annum. Sadly, cancer has remained a tremendously costly public health problem of major proportions for over 5 decades, and our progress has been puzzling slow towards solving this using standard methods.

On today’s show, Navigating the Cancer Maze, my guest Professor Brendon Coventry, an Adelaide-based oncology surgeon suggests there may be another way to approach the problem and shows that the immune system my hold the answer. With a special interest in Melanoma Surgery, he is a clinical researcher whose interests include anti-tumour immune response in human malignancies, tumour Immunology and cancer vaccine treatments.

His group’s research paper, published in 2014, entitled “Vaccinia Melanoma Cell Lysate Vaccine (VMCL) Trial for treatment of advanced Stage IV Melanoma with and without Chemotherapy”, captured the attention of medical and scientific community. Trial conclusions reported high complete response rates (where all cancer disappears) of 17%, with useful clinical responses occurring in nearly 80% of patients overall (slowing the disease), and over 15% of patients experiencing survivals past 5-years, with essentially no toxicity. The longest survivor now remains alive for over 14 years. These response rates and survivals are unusual for advanced melanoma. The researchers reason that the repetitive and prolonged delivery of the vaccine therapy might hold part of the clue, because this was a strikingly different approach to that used in other trials.

At this weeks Meeting of Minds in Brisbane Prof Coventry with Grace Gawler and Martin Ashdown
At this weeks Meeting of Minds in Brisbane (LtoR) Martin Ashdown with Grace Gawler and Prof Coventry

Prof Coventry with colleague Martin Ashdown, have now developed a remarkable understanding of how the human immune system continuously oscillates in a dynamic fashion. The timing of ‘when’ the therapy dose is precisely delivered in synchrony with each individual patient’s own immune system waveform or cycle might hold the very key to improving cancer treatment, thus leading to better survival.

Martin Ashdown says: …..”The concept of immune monitoring and accurately synchronizing therapy (immune synchronization), brings a new level of science to oncology. The published mouse experiments and human clinical trials, together with our knowledge of physiology tells us this is the way forward, particularly with the new cancer immunotherapies. This approach potentially has the triple benefit of increasing efficacy, lowering toxicity and substantially reducing the cost of treatment”

Professor Brendon Coventry is well crendentialled

Professor Brendon Coventry BMBS, PhD, FRACS, FACS, FRSM is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide and Senior Consultant Surgeon (General, Breast-Endocrine, Surgical Oncology & Trauma Surgery) at the Royal Adelaide Hospital since 1993.

He holds a PhD in cancer immunology.

Positions:
• Immediate Past Chairman, Surgical Oncology Section, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons;
• Research Director, Australian Melanoma Research Foundation & Board Member;
• Past Chairman, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Group, Clinical Oncological Society of Australia;
• Foundation Chairman, Multidisciplinary Melanoma Management Group, Royal Adelaide Hospital
• Senior Examiner, Australian Medical Council
• Board Member of Cancer Care Centre, Unley

Fellowships:
• Royal Australasian College of Surgeons,
• American College of Surgeons
• Royal Society of Medicine.

Research:
• Over 85 journal publications; including New England Journal of Medicine, British Journal of Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology; widely published topics including surgical treatment for melanoma and breast cancer, sentinel node surgery, sarcoma surgery, adjuvant radiation therapy, melanoma vaccine therapies,laparoscopic spleen surgery techniques, neuroscience, microscopic methods, high-sensitivity tissue immunochemistry, public health,
medical education, internet learning.
• NIH Principal Investigator: Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-I) surgical sentinel node; C-Vax melanoma vaccine studies (x2).
• Editor-in-Chief, 7-Volume international textbook series “Surgery: Complications, Risks and Consequences” published by Springer; general adult, paediatric and cardio-vascular surgery.
Current Research:
• Surgical Complications, Safety and Quality improvement
• Vaccine Therapies for Advanced Melanoma, novel findings from repetitive dosing where 5-year survival and Complete Response rates have been significantly improved
• Timing of Therapies is novel collaborative work with Martin Ashdown concerning serial blood biomarker monitoring for advanced cancer patients for more accurate timing to improve therapy dose delivery and clinical efficacy further, which is gaining recognition

 

More on Vaccine successes – listen to Jeffrey Deslandes interviewed on Juice radio – Gold Coast yesterday 16 January 2015. https://soundcloud.com/juice-107-3/cancer-survivor-jeffrey-deslandes

Sometimes we can’t make financial donations for a cause – but we can use the internet, emails social media and word of mouth to help bring about change. Patient demand through critical need will make a difference- but voices are required! Please spread the word about this interview and the show and make your contribution to change the paradigm of treating cancer for the benefit of humanity.

Until next time
Grace

Cancer Experts Discuss Cancer Vaccines and Immune Cycle Timing of Treatments in Brisbane

Cancer vaccines and immune cycle timing: Hear Prof Brendon Coventry and Martin Ashdown on 612 ABC radio Brisbane, Queensland with Steve Austin today 10.30am Tuesday 13 January 2015. State-wide broadcast. Listen or Download later as a podcast at: http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/programs/612_morning/

Cancer vaccines and immune cycle timing: Hear Prof Brendon Coventry and Martin Ashdown on 612 ABC radio Brisbane, Queensland with Steve Austin today 10.30am Tuesday 13 January 2015. State-wide broadcast. Listen or Download later as a podcast at:

http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/programs/612_morning/

A MEETING OF MINDS – EXPLORING FURTHER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT OF • Cancer Vaccines in

Prof Brendon Coventry Adelaide, South Australia
Prof Brendon Coventry Adelaide, South Australia

Australia & Immune Synchronisation of Cancer treatments is organised by my Institute. The Grace Gawler Institute is always looking for better ways to assist cancer patients to navigate the increasingly complex cancer maze.

We have invited a group of Medical scientists and clinicians to come together in Brisbane to discuss new ways to tackle the issue of improvements in the medical treatments of cancer. Conventional cancer treatments often get bad press, but the fact is they save lives, true not all lives; but significant enough particularly in some areas of medicine. As one solution to the growing swell of alternative cancer treatments; this group are looking at what can be done to improve conventional cancer medicine by extending the scientific knowledge of our immune system; utilising its inbuilt power and ability to “remember” pathogens, and invaders like cancer cells and proactively destroy them.

GG and Martin AShdown 31 Oct 14 interview - Copy (2)
Martin Ashdown Melbourne University & Grace Gawler

Immune therapies and the discovery of the immune cycle in cancer patients to help better time delivery of treatments with potentially better outcomes and less side effects; is worthy of attention and research funding in the current climate.

Jeffrey Deslandes – recovered patient using cancer vaccines after 4th recurrence stage 4 lymphoma and now 8.5 years clear will also be in Brisbane this week. His book “From Cancer Good things Grow” tells his story of recovery using cancer vaccines made from his own tissue. All proceeds from the book go to research & Development and clinical application of cancer vaccines in Australia.

I will also be interviewing Prof Brendon Coventry on this weeks Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio show.
Stay tuned for more updates…..

Until next time…

Grace

Can Fibre Diffraction Diagnosis Detect Cancer Years Before its Onset | Yes says Professor Veronica James

Navigating the Early Detection Maze! Just imagine if cancer could be detected long before the process of a mammogram or PSA test or scan discovered advanced disease? According to Physicist, Professor Veronica James who has devoted her life to Scientific Research in the area of early diagnosis; the answer is a resounding YES!

Navigating the Early Detection Maze! Just imagine if cancer could be detected long before the process of a mammogram or PSA test or scan discovered advanced disease?

Fibre Diffraction Diagnosis
Professor Veronica James

According to Physicist, Professor Veronica James who has devoted her life to Scientific Research in the area of early diagnosis; the answer is a resounding YES! Just imagine if she is right and there is a strong probability she is; earlier cancer diagnosis than we currently have access to, is possible! Interview Voice America:

Prof James has worked on breast cancer since the 1980s & developed “Fibre Diffraction Diagnosis”, a method to detect cancer using x-rays of nail clippings, hair or skin. An unusual concept; but this almost 80 year old Australian scientist has the science and credibility to back up her research results.

One of the fears and anxieties amongst cancer patients I see, is their concern that they may have somehow passed on their cancer genes to the children or grandchildren. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for them to know there was a test that could lead to a clean bill of health or an early diagnosis?

Prof Veronica James is not a name that one recognizes unless you are in the academic research field; and so the question that begs to be asked is – Why Not? What happened to her research and findings and why hasn’t she had the funding to continue her work? These questions that require an answer.

I visited Veronica at her home this week to record an interview for my Voice America Internet Radio Show that aired today on Navigating the Cancer Maze. I was horrified to hear about her battles to get this invaluable contribution to cancer research recognised. Despite her credentials, she has had to fight tremendous battles to assert her research findings in Science. A snippet of the issues she has had to endure are to be found in the Herald-Sun article January 06, 2010!  Titled Professor Veronica James’s quest to shield others by Olga Galacho.  Well worth a read! Here is someone who I consider is a Grand Dame of Science in Australia, a National Treasure. Please contact me via the contact page on the menu if you would like to support Prof James research.

Her research and results from studying early diagnosis of breast cancer using Fibre Diffraction Diagnosis, is astounding.

This story of discovery is amazing and somewhat serendipitous. In 1996, Veronica reported to the medical personnel at Christie’s Hospital Manchester, the 4 changes she had observed in the collagenous ductal tissue of the breast that precede breast cancer noting that, in the final stage, the breast tissue had reversed to foetal tissue.

Rings identified by Prof Veronica James as disease states
Rings identified by Prof Veronica James as disease states

Veronica was asked whether she had observed similar foetal tissue in the skin as had been reported in breast cancer. A subsequent study at the local Daresbury synchrotron of 14 skin samples did show a possible foetal-like change similar to the penultimate change in the breast. Christie’ Hospital Oncologists agreed to provide 200 samples to confirm these results but when she arrived in England to collect them, the samples had disappeared from their freezer. As Veronica had already studied changes in hair in insulin dependent diabetes and was due in Japan the following day, she asked if a clinic was in progress and being told that it was asked if a hair sample could be taken from each of the participants. With hoots of laughter they agreed asking her what she thought she would find. Veronica told them nothing but that she would not be in disgrace in Japan for arriving without any samples. They were still laughing when she collected these samples the next day. When Veronica started to look at the samples the following day in Japan, she found strange rings superimposed on the normal hair patterns and after blaming and reassembling the machine she finally found out that only 8 of the 19 samples showed this ring.

Veronica sent back to England the numbers of these samples thinking that they might have something in common – same family, same shampoo, same hairdressers etc. Their return email stated simply that Veronica had picked out all the breast cancer patients. This was confirmed by taking these and further blinded sets to other synchrotrons. The changes relating to other cancers and Alzheimer’s Disease, were found in the 4000 subsequent blinded tests from 14 different international sources when patients with other cancers were included to prove that the discovered change was specific to breast cancer. As each new change was identified, further studies were undertaken to verify the specificity of each new change.

Professor Veronica James maintains that her results can be easily duplicated if the correct procedures are followed. Basically what Veronica is doing is taking a sample of skin, nail or hair and shining an x-ray beam through it. Upon examination of the x-ray one can observe rings which in their various positions indicate if the patient is developing a particular type of cancer. An absence of rings indicates the patient is healthy. Veronica claims that cancer can be detected very early using her method.

To see a short video with explanations of the test; Fiber Diffraction Diagnosis (FDD) with Prof Veronica James-Please visit the link below. ABC TV – Australia -“The Inventors”.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2919200.htm

Research Gate – a portal for academic research lists 52 Publications for Professor James. Her areas of expertise include: Biological Physics, Medical Biochemistry: Proteins And Peptides (Incl. Medical Proteomics), Structural Chemistry And Spectroscopy, Physical Chemistry Of Materials, Medicinal & Bio-molecular Chemistry, Oncology & Carcinogenesis.

AWARDS: Prof James has an Order of Australia Medal for her services to the deaf. 1992 Quota South Pacific Breast Cancer Research Award, 1999 American Biographical Institute Woman of the Year and 2004 International Scientist of the Year IBC Cambridge. She has recently been awarded an honorary doctorate of Science from Cambridge.

There is an annual two day camp called the Veronica James Science Challenge for Hearing Impaired Children supported by the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine through its department of pathology.

DOWNLOAD PUBLICATIONS:

1. extremely early diagnosis of prostate cancer veronica james – Prof Veronica James

2. The Connection Between Presence of Melanoma and changes in Fibre Diffraction Patterns Prof V James

Prof James has had a distinguished university teaching career progressing to Associate Professor, UNSW. She has been Visiting Fellow, Research School of Chemistry ANU, Visiting Fellow, Dep’t of Pathology UWA. Semi retired, she is presently Adjunct Professor, Research School of Chemistry ANU and wishes to continue cancer research to further develop her methods to help humanity. Thank you to Prof James for her permission to use her research and  images on this blog.

Until Next Time……..

Grace