Best Life

This One Thing Could Prevent Symptomatic COVID 100 Percent, Study Says

Sarah Crow 4 hrs ago

This One Thing Could Prevent Symptomatic COVID 100 Percent, Study Says

Wearing a mask, social distancing, and getting a vaccine are all expert-recommended means of stopping the spread of COVID, though none are foolproof. However, a new study shows that there's yet an additional way to stop the symptomatic spread of the virus in its tracks—and it's been shown to be 100 percent effective in patients thus far.

According to research conducted at UVA Health, among 186 individuals who received Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' antibody cocktail and were subsequently exposed to COVID as part of the company's phase 3 clinical trial, none developed symptomatic cases of COVID; eight members of a placebo group who were exposed to COVID developed symptomatic infections. That's not the only good news to come from the new study, however; read on to discover what the new research says.

https://bestlifeonline.com/regeneron-antibody-cocktail-covid-news

part 1

Cancer patients weren't responding to therapy. Then they got a poop transplant.

Nicoletta Lanese 5 hrs ago

For some cancer patients, a "poop transplant" could boost the positive effects of immunotherapy, a treatment designed to rally the immune system against cancer cells.

Not all cancer patients respond to immunotherapy drugs. For example, only about 40% of patients with advanced melanoma, a type of skin cancer, reap long-term benefit from the drugs, according to recent estimates. In trying to pinpoint the differences between patients who respond well to immunotherapy and those who don't, scientists have zeroed in on a likely suspect: the microorganisms living in their guts.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/cancer-patients-werent-responding-to-therapy-then-they-got-a-poop-transplant/ar-BB1dor7B?ocid=msedgdhp

part 2

Cancer patients weren't responding to therapy. Then they got a poop transplant.

Nicoletta Lanese 5 hrs ago

Now, a new study, published Feb. 4 in the journal Science, adds to the growing evidence that having the right gut bugs can improve a patient's response to immunotherapy, helping to stop disease progression or even shrink tumors.

In the study, scientists collected stool from melanoma patients who responded well to immunotherapy and then transplanted their feces (and microbes) into the guts of 15 patients who had never previously responded to the drugs. After the transplant, six of the 15 patients responded to immunotherapy for the first time, showing either tumor reduction or disease stabilization that lasted more than a year.

"The microbes really appear to drive the immunological … changes we see in patients," said study author Dr. Hassane Zarour, a cancer immunologist, co-leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman and a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. The team linked the changes in gut bugs to changes in both tumor growth and the immune system; for instance, some of the participants showed an increase in specific immune cells and antibodies that appeared in their blood.

Despite the positive changes seen in some patients, fecal transplants likely won't help all patients whose cancer resists immunotherapy, Zarour said. In the new study, for instance, nine of the 15 patients did not benefit from the treatment. As part of their research, the team began to sift through the differences between those who improved after the transplant and those who didn't.

Gut bugs as cancer treatment

The idea for combining fecal transplants with immunotherapy first came from studies in mice with tumors, in which the rodents responded differently to the drugs depending on which gut microbes they carried, according to Science Magazine. By tweaking the mice's gut microbiomes — the collection of bacteria, viruses and other microbes in their digestive tracts — scientists found that they could improve this response, but they weren't sure which microbes made the difference.

That said, mice's responses to immunotherapy improved after they were given fecal matter from human cancer patients whose tumors had shrunk under immunotherapy. "When they took non-responding mice and gave them the right bugs … they could convert non-responding mice into responding mice," Zarour said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/cancer-patients-werent-responding-to-therapy-then-they-got-a-poop-transplant/ar-BB1dor7B?ocid=msedgdhp

part 3

Cancer patients weren't responding to therapy. Then they got a poop transplant.

Other research showed that when human patients took antibiotics, which alter the gut microbiome, they were less likely to respond to immunotherapy, providing more evidence that gut bugs make a big difference in people, too.

Having seen the positive effects of fecal transplants in mice, scientists began testing the treatment in humans, starting with a few small clinical trials.

In two such trials, led by researchers at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, patients received both fecal transplants and oral pills containing dried stool. The patients then took immunotherapy drugs called "checkpoint blockades," which essentially rip the brakes off of immune cells and help amplify their activity against tumors. A subset of these patients, who had previously not responded to the drugs, suddenly began responding.

The new study by Zarour and his colleagues echoes these positive results, but it also starts to address a crucial question: How do gut bugs boost the effects of immunotherapy?

To answer this question, the team closely analyzed the microbes present in the donor stool samples and the recipients, before and after fecal transplants. The team also collected blood and tumor cell samples to assess the patients' immune responses over time, and computed tomography (CT) scans, to track tumor growth. They then used artificial intelligence to find connections between all these data points.

Out of the 15 patients, nine still didn't respond to immunotherapy after their transplant. But of the six who did respond, one showed a complete response to checkpoint blockade drugs, meaning their tumors shrunk so much they were no longer detectable; two others showed a partial response, meaning their tumors shrunk but did not disappear, and three have shown no disease progression for over a year. In all six of these patients, the microbes from the donor's stool quickly colonized their guts, and several of the newcomer bugs that were previously linked to positive immunotherapy outcomes increased in number.

Out of the 15 patients, nine still didn't respond to immunotherapy after their transplant. But of the six who did respond, one showed a complete response to checkpoint blockade drugs, meaning their tumors shrunk so much they were no longer detectable; two others showed a partial response, meaning their tumors shrunk but did not disappear, and three have shown no disease progression for over a year. In all six of these patients, the microbes from the donor's stool quickly colonized their guts, and several of the newcomer bugs that were previously linked to positive immunotherapy outcomes increased in number.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/cancer-patients-werent-responding-to-therapy-then-they-got-a-poop-transplant/ar-BB1dor7B?ocid=msedgdhp

>>12825560

Oh sorry, I am a nurse, I forget how squeamish regular people are. Fecal transplant is effective treatment for several bowel diseases. I just didn't know they were using it for cancer.