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.
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
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