Major discovery regarding metastasis prevention in bc

[Lani]

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/570449

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

can't Access This Site...

[goops]

It looks like signing up for the site is free - I signed up for a name anyone can use it is:

Member name:her2org
Password:member

[Hazel Joyce]

I finally registered at medscape.com.

Thank you, Lani, for posting all these articles for us.

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

Thanks Goops. So Simple. Same As You. Okay.

Thanks Lani.

[CLTann]

Lani,

Does the article mean that taking vitamin D will produce macrophage in the body and that entity will help to eliminate or end the cancer propagation? Thanks for interpretation.

[TSund]

joining this thread...

[Lani]

no, it is not the Vitamin D which is activating the macrophages, rather the protein GcMAF which is a macrophage activating factor which is derived from a protein which binds vitamin D.

The tumors did not progress-metastasize/recur in these patients, and the authors attributed the effect to activated macrophages--but as with so much with the immune system, there is still much more which is not understood than is understood.

Even if their theory of how it works doesn't turn out to be totally inclusive/accurate, the results are certainly promising!

[Joanne S]

Macro- (prefix): Prefix from the Greek "makro" meaning long. Examples of terms involving macro- include macrobiotic, macrocephaly, macrocytic, macroglossia, macrophage, macroscopic, and macrosomia.


Phage: Short for bacteriophage, a virus that lives within a bacteria. A virus for which the natural host is a bacterial cell. Bacteriophages have been very important and heuristic in bacterial and molecular genetics.



Macrophage: A type of white blood that ingests (takes in) foreign material. Macrophages are key players in the immune response (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3906) to foreign invaders such as infectious microorganisms.
Blood monocytes migrate into the tissues of the body and there differentiate (evolve) into macrophages. Macrophages help destroy bacteria, protozoa (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5091), and tumor cells. They also release substances that stimulate other cells of the immune system (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3907). And they are involved in antigen presentation. To do this, they carry the antigen (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2282) on their surface and present it to a T cells (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11300).

[TSund]

So how does one come by these proteins? Would amino acids play a role?

TRS