Cancer Breakthrough

Big, big article on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday: "In a potential breakthrough for cancer research, Stanford immunologists discovered they can shrink or even get rid of a wide range of human cancers by treating them with a single antibody." You can see the article online here.

The researchers are understandably excited, saying that "the data is indeed exciting, and the effects are significant." What seems even more joyous is that the treatment doesn't cause "major toxicity," i.e., horrible side effects. Mild, temporary anemia is cited as the only one. And, perhaps more importantly, "the antibody offers hope as a weapon against a broad range of cancers -- breast, ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate."

Tests have only been in mice so far. Researchers are hoping to move it quickly to human trials.

It's called CD47, but more informally, the "don't eat me" molecule.