It s not totally immunological, says Dr. Aiken. We know that there is an immediate programmed cell death reaction in the chambers. When we put the chamber in the abdomen, the treated cells are somehow transported to the brain and the glioblastoma. It has a specific effect, yet it s not given at the tumor site. Some patients had treatable side effects such as deep vein thrombosis.
Antisense therapy is designed to target and to turn off the mutated genes that cause cancer.
Antisense DNA drugs work by binding to RNA messages from disease genes so that the genetic code in the RNA cannot be read. In contrast to the shotgun approach of chemotherapy, which kills both normal and cancerous cells, antisense exclusively attacks cancer cells. When the gene translation mechanism is turned off, cells can no longer make the protein products that cause disease. They hope to also open new trials in which the IGF-1R antisense is given as an initial treatment at diagnosis. The technology has been tested on laboratory rats, both with intact immune systems and on those that lack immune systems, with positive results, the researchers say.