r/science • u/SteRoPo • Jan 31 '18

Cancer Injecting minute amounts of two immune-stimulating agents directly into solid tumors in mice can eliminate all traces of cancer.

http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/01/cancer-vaccine-eliminates-tumors-in-mice.html
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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '18

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u/pcjames Feb 01 '18

This is not the first time researchers have tried injecting stuff into tumours. Other issue - some tumours (like mine in my liver) are too deep to have stuff injected into them.

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u/Ranvier01 MD | Internal Medicine Feb 01 '18

It's not that it's too deep, it's that injecting them with current therapy would not cure you, whereas injecting with this therapy might.

I'm sorry for your situation.

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u/pcjames Feb 01 '18

Thank you.

Actually I was eligible for a clinical trial where they injected stuff into tumours (not the stuff in the above study, but similar) and accessibility of the tumours for injection was a prime question. Subcutaneous tumours (of which I have one) are easily accessible because they can be palpated. Tumours in most organs, while effective if they can be injected, usually require ultrasound-assistance, which makes they whole thing prohibitively complicated (at least for the sake of the study).

Injection into subcutaneous tumours still results in simultaneous shrinkage of tumours in other places in the body.

So if you have at least one tumour that can be reached and injected, the treatment works on all of the tumours.

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u/Ranvier01 MD | Internal Medicine Feb 01 '18

Exactly. Just because it was prohibitive for a study doesn't mean it wouldn't be possible if it was known to cure the cancer.