discovery could open new treatment

Spanish scientists use maths to cure terminal liver cancer

Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Spanish scientists use maths to cure terminal liver cancer
By using a mathematical formula formula designed to strengthen the immune system, a team of scientists in Spain have succeeded in curing a patient who was in the last stage of terminal liver cancer.

The team of researchers from the Complutense University in Madrid believe that this discovery could open new doors for the treatment of solid cancerous tumours.

The new treatment was developed in 1998 by a team led by Antonio Bru, a physicist who bases his theory on the idea that the evolution of solid tumors depends on a mathematical equation which defines their biological growth. An equation is then obtained in the laboratory and used to design a therapy to destroy the tumor.

The scientists, who have carried out successful tests on mice over the past few years, announced yesterday that the only human experiment they have carried out so far has been a complete success.

Apparantly the patient was suffering from liver cancer which had been diagnosed by his doctors as terminal and in its final stage. The scientists used a mathematical formula to create a treatment based on neutrofiles that strengthened the patient's immune system. The patient responded well to the treatment immediately and has since made a total recovery and has returned to work.

The treatment produces no side effects.The Spanish scientists believe that their theory could be applied to treat all kinds of solid tumors although they will need to carry out many more tests on human patients before they can be sure.

Update 1/06/2005:

Today, the Complutense University (whose switchboards have apparantly been innundated with phone calls from people wanting to find out more about this news item) has published a communication on its website with a brief communication from Prof. Antonio Bru. The full article is here. Below is a translation of Professor Bru's brief note which appears at the end of the article:

Given the expectation generated by the news of the publication of the article Regulation of neutrophilia by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: a new cancer therapy that reversed a case of terminal hepatocarcinoma in the Journal of Clinical Research, I would like to make the following points:

1) The proposed treatment is still at an experimental stage and needs much wider experimentation before it can be validated.

2) For this reason, at this moment there is no treatment protocol which enables it to be applied as a general treatment.

3) Given that it is impossible for the Complutense University of Madrid to answer all the phone calls received, and bearing in mind how they can disrupt normal teaching and research activity, please send any enquiries to the following email address: bru@mat.ucm.es
Dr. Antonio Brú, Departamento de Matemática Aplicada
Facultad de Ciencias Matemáticas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Related:
The Universal Dynamics of Tumor Growth by Antonio Bru and his team of researchers.

Wow. How exciting could this be?!

Love and light,

Lisa

Yeah..someone pinch me. Imagine going from carpet bombing to a harmless math formula. I do wonder how they determined a "cure".

Hi Rich,

Applied mathematicians have been looking a models of how cancers operate for a while now. Part of what may be throwing you off is the 'mathematics' bit. What is called in the US mathematics is generally called pure mathematics in Europe and 'applied mathematics' hardly exists as a field in the U.S. European 'applied mathematicians' cover areas that would be handled by everyone from chemical engineers to biophysicists in the U.S. Biological mathematics is a particularly hot area in the field and with results like these it is easy to see why.

Nonetheless, it is a fantastic accomplishment and I hope that the trials work out brilliantly.