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I,like everyone else, hope that this new experimental treatment posted by Lani will be successfully tried in humans.
But until the first signs of efficacy in patients, I now keep my optmistic hopes somewhat under lid when reading about early test results because of the time I became exceedingly enthousiastic back in 1998 only to be disapointed & then going through ups & downs of the development of the first antiangiogenesis drugs.
This was the time in 1998 when the world was stuned to hear that all tested human cancer cell lines responded dramatically to Endostatin or Angiostatin,the two naturally occuring endogenous molecules. And 60 to 80%of mice grafted with human cancers that were left to grow to 20% of their weight became so small as barely sensed to the touch. And the treatment could be stopped up to 50 times & each time the tumours would regress in a similar way. No apparent side effect.
Moreover when Endostatin & Angiostatin were combined the treated mice not only saw their tumour regress: they were cured. The success rate was 100%.
Since angiogenesis appears to be universally required by nearly all types of tumours to grow it made sense that Endostatin & Angiostatin would cure all of them.
No less than Nobel prize winner James Watson (of DNA fame) predicted that Dr Folkman (whose laboratory discovered Endostatin & Angiostatin) would cure cancer in 2 years.
Dr Folkman was more restrained. He said "if you are a mouse we can cure you".
Endostatin & Angiostatin each separately did show some anticancer activity & very low side effects in phase 1 & 2 trials by a private company holding the licenced rights on the drugs but they did not achieve the hoped for results.
In addition poor financial management, resulting in unresolved technical difficulties stopped the development of the drugs by this company & prevented the trial of the combined drugs. The real value of these 2 drugs is still unknown.
The mice experiments were not good enough models of human trials.
Often the breeds of mice are selected to reduce the number variables which
makes them remote models of human metabolism.
And the publication of early test results tends to insist more on their positive side than on their negative side since future financing of continuing research is dependant on good results.
This said I am nevertherless really hopefull that one or more of the many new angles currently tried to beat cancer will succeed.
And the currently available drugs which are more effective & less toxic than the older ones are usually providing the long term bridge to future treatments.
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