http://www.jimmunol....gAbstracts/55.2
kmoody, this is exiting work, thanks for keeping us informed on your progress.
I was drawn to this forum because of a thoughtful post by niner on fullerenes and asthma. In regards to the study design, the study linked above (for some reason I can't link inline) had two treatment groups, one treated during the development of asthma and another treated after. So they were able to test both the preventative and "after infection" treatment value of C70 for asthma.
On a different topic, could someone help put these initial results in layman terms? Is this indicating that C60oo treatment is causing more tumors to form in bone marrow?
The C60oo treated mice have double the tumor burden within the bone marrow as compared to controls. Most of our C60oo treated mice also have palpable tumors whereas most controls do not. We have a few working hypotheses to explain this data.
It could be that C60oo exacerbates cancer. However, I do not believe this to be the case. Our pilot study showed a very compelling, dose-dependent decrease in all-cause mortality.
I am aware of three major changes to the study design between the pilot and our current study. One was a switch from CIEA NOG to NOD/SCID mice. These are very similar immunocompromised mouse models that I don't think are sufficiently distinct to cause this discrepancy, but an essential non-obvious difference could exist. Another possibility is the lag time with treatment. In the pilot study we began treating with C60oo when the mice were inoculated with the leukemia cells. In the repeat, we wanted to clearly differentiate the effects of prophylactic treatment vs. reduced engraftment of cancer vs. cancer treatment. We chose to study the cancer treatment, and waited until 1 week after the cancer was injected before beginning treatment. It could be that properties of C60 reduce tumor engraftment but exacerbate cancer. Again, I do not believe this to be the case.
Our current lead hypothesis is sourcing. For our pilot study, we made C60oo fresh in-house. At the time of the current study, we wanted to add quality assurance to the study design so we chose to go with a vendor that claimed robust product specifications. We have 3 ongoing studies that are using C60oo sourced from that vendor, including the leukemia one described here. In all three studies, the C60oo treated mice are trending heavily in the direction of accelerated death from all-cause mortality. In our repeat lifespan study, we have confirmed by blinded 3rd party histopathology that at least some C60oo treated mice are dying of cancer. The product from this vendor has failed every one of our quality control tests as we have brought them online in-house. We have repeatedly asked for CoA and product specification documents but these forms have not been provided.
So in layman terms, something bad appears to be happening to these mice. A plausible common denominator is that C60oo sourcing is incredibly important. Some vendors may have a product that could promote all the health benefits we hear about with C60oo. Some vendors may have a product that can dramatically increase all cause mortality. We are aggressively studying the differences between our formulation and that of the vendor to understand what the difference may be.
It's valid to defend the aim of an experiment , I think what's being said here is that there could be a different aim.
Not taking anything away from Ichor, however:
there is little monetization available for a preventative/prophylactic anything, and I don't believe that the development of prophylactic drugs is part of Ichor's business model -- except as perhaps part of the contract research.
With the emerging data that shows environmental and lifestyle choices are overwhelmingly the cause of cancer, a cancer preventative would face a huge epidemiological and evidence battle, as would any "life-extension" drug.
Marie Calment ate 2 lbs of dark chocolate a week and reportedly drowned her food (most meals) in olive oil -- combination of anti-oxidant and olive oil -- correlated? causal? how long a study would suffice.
Tweak a C60OO molecule enough to get a patent, and show efficacy against existing disease and you have a cheap to manufacture almost priceless drug.
Truvada was initially a HAART treatment for AIDS and HIV patients, that just so happens to be an extremely potent and efficacious pre-exposure prophylactic anti-viral with respect to HIV.
I agree with sensei on this one. Happy to run contract research near cost for the benefit of the community, but the value to us as a business is in drugs. That said, there is obvious overlap in the safety profile of C60oo as a drug candidate or a prophylactic supplement, so robust characterization of manufacturing, formulation, stability, and safety issues is where everyone's interests are likely aligned. Note that the initial study was not really meant to show C60oo can treat cancer. Rather, it was to see if it would exacerbate a human cancer model in mice.
" We chose to study the cancer treatment, and waited until 1 week after the cancer was injected before beginning treatment. "
And you blame the results on the C60 Olive Oil ?
I do not think you understand how cancer proliferates.
Cancer injected turns into every kind of cancer.
So, I still suggest the same procedure as I did in your original pilot study posted results and your second study:
First treat these test animals with C60 Olive Oil for a week or more.
And then inoculate them with the Human Cancer cells.
Do the drug trial similar to Baati.
That is what everyone wants to know.