The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of sound waves to break down tumors—a technique called histotripsy—in humans for liver treatment.
Maybe I’m extrapolating incorrectly - I think that’s an obstacle because of all the news articles in the past talking about novel ways to targetedly mark cancer cells as the bad ones, and all the discussion of cancer and autoimmune disease being similar
I’m no expert, but I am familiar with the concept of “tuning” the immune system to recognize cancerous cells via pharmaceuticals. Some of these treatments may cause the immune system to attack healthy tissue. I don’t know if this is still the case.
I think the difference here is that the sound treatment causes the initial disruption to the cells, and then the immune system realizes (on its own) that the cells are a threat. Then, the immune system can start attacking the bad cells.
Since the sound treatment is approved by the FDA, I assume it’s safe, and it’s awesome news
I can’t tell if the article is misunderstanding the science when they say it might help the immune system target the cancer cells in the future, though
Most of the time I see news about it being promising in lab rats, it doesn’t work in humans - which isn’t a failing of science, it’s a failing of the media IMO
Maybe I’m extrapolating incorrectly - I think that’s an obstacle because of all the news articles in the past talking about novel ways to targetedly mark cancer cells as the bad ones, and all the discussion of cancer and autoimmune disease being similar
I’m no expert, but I am familiar with the concept of “tuning” the immune system to recognize cancerous cells via pharmaceuticals. Some of these treatments may cause the immune system to attack healthy tissue. I don’t know if this is still the case.
I think the difference here is that the sound treatment causes the initial disruption to the cells, and then the immune system realizes (on its own) that the cells are a threat. Then, the immune system can start attacking the bad cells.
Since the sound treatment is approved by the FDA, I assume it’s safe, and it’s awesome news
I can’t tell if the article is misunderstanding the science when they say it might help the immune system target the cancer cells in the future, though
Most of the time I see news about it being promising in lab rats, it doesn’t work in humans - which isn’t a failing of science, it’s a failing of the media IMO