• Home
  • Login
  • Register
  • Digital Edition
  • About Us
  • Staff
  • Obituaries
South Florida Times
  • News
    • Around South Florida
    • Black News
    • Local News
    • National & World
    • Caribbean News
    • Opinion
    • Prayerful Living
    • Ex-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to join White House

      Associated Press, June 29, 2022
    • Ransom Everglades School appoints David Clark as COO, interim head

      Staff Report, June 29, 2022
    • Brilliant entrepreneur shatters glass ceiling to start human resource business

      S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022
  • Business
    • Special Olympics drops vaccine rule after $27 million fine threat

      Associated Press, June 17, 2022
    • OECD slashes global economic outlook on Russia-Ukraine war

      S. Florida Times, June 17, 2022
    • Senate approves Lisa Cook as first Black woman to Fed post

      S. Florida Times, June 17, 2022
  • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Credit
    • Loans
    • Trading
    • Mortgage
    • Donate
    • 22 grassroots projects in Black and Brown communities win Mobilize Grants from The Carrie Meek Foundation

      Staff Report, May 2, 2022
    • No-cost support for small business owners

      Staff Report, January 27, 2022
    • Biden /Harris Victory

      Robert Beatty, November 7, 2020
  • Politics
    • State
    • Local
    • National
    • International
    • Elections
    • Debate Night in America: Muted Mics Could Interrupt Trump’s Style

      zenger.news, October 22, 2020
    • Trump or Biden: Venezuelans in U.S. Debate Impact of Presidential Election

      zenger.news, October 21, 2020
    • Fugitive Drug Dealer Captured Despite Plastic Surgery, New Identity

      zenger.news, October 20, 2020
  • Technology
    • Software Review
    • Hosting
    • Gas/Electricity
    • Small Business
    • VOIP Solutions
    • The hottest cars for 2022 The hottest cars for 2022

      S. Florida Times, January 27, 2022
    • Hertz order for Teslas ranks among biggest-ever EV purchases

      Associated Press, November 2, 2021
    • BROWARD App gives graduates virtual reality diploma

      S. Florida Times, June 20, 2020
  • Education
    • Classes
    • College
    • Degree
    • FIU
    • HBCU
    • High school
    • Online classes
    • Miami-dade
    • Students get to fast-track at Broward College

      Staff Report, February 10, 2022
    • FIU President Mark Rosenberg resigns

      Staff Report, January 27, 2022
    • Documentary tracks lives of Black Wisconsin students

      S. Florida Times, November 12, 2021
  • SoFLO Live
    • Chef Ire
    • Calendar
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Books
    • Music
    • Movies
    • SoFlo LiVE

      S. Florida Times, September 3, 2021
    • SUSTAINABLE, VERSATILE, GLOBAL, DELICIOUS: Honey’s got buzz

      Associated Press, March 1, 2020
    • 5-YEAR-OLD DRUMMER garners attention, college scholarships

      Associated Press, March 1, 2020
  • Health
    • Kids Nutrition
    • Health Jobs
    • Insurance
    • Weight Loss
    • Pet Health
    • Tribeca ’22 goes full frame

      S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022
    • Using Alcohol, Cannabis Together Is Ill­Advised

      S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022
    • Retailers getting heat for cashing in on Juneteenth

      S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022
  • Special Sections
    • Hurricane Guide
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Back To School
    • Black History
    • Business & Finance
    • Martin Luther King Jr.
    • Mother’s Day
    • Season of the Arts
    • JOURNEY INTO JOURNALISM a black woman books it

      Associated Press, March 13, 2020
    • Right to Vote focus of Spoken Soul Festival

      Staff Report, March 13, 2020
    • Stokely: A woman’s day is every day

      CB HANIF, March 13, 2020
  • Blogs
    • Beatnik24

Tribeca ’22 goes full frame

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022

Using Alcohol, Cannabis Together Is Ill­Advised

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022

Retailers getting heat for cashing in on Juneteenth

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022

Obituaries

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022

George Lamming, 94, giant of modern Caribbean writing

Associated Press, June 29, 2022

Mississippi, Alabama mourners praise policeman killed on duty

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022

Ex-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to join White House

Associated Press, June 29, 2022

Ransom Everglades School appoints David Clark as COO, interim head

Staff Report, June 29, 2022
Health and Fitness

Cancer patients testing drugs on mouse ‘avatars’


SHARE ON:
Associated Press — December 15, 2014
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
Scientists often test drugs in mice. Now some cancer patients are doing the same — with the hope of curing their own disease.

They are paying a private lab to breed mice that carry bits of their own tumors so treatments can be tried first on the customized rodents. The idea is to see which drugs might work best on a specific person’s specific cancer.

Hundreds of people in the last few years have made “mouse avatars.”

Five things to know about them:

HOW IT WORKS

Several labs breed these mice but the main supplier to patients is Champions Oncology, a company based in Hackensack, New Jersey, that also operates in London, Tel Aviv and Singapore.

Patients have a tumor sample sent to Champions, which banks it and implants bits of it into mice kept in a Baltimore lab.

THE COST

Champions charges $1,500 to bank the tumor sample plus $2,500 for each drug tested in groups of mice. Most patients try three to five drugs and spend $10,000 to $12,000. Insurance does not cover the mouse testing; it’s considered very experimental.

THE EVIDENCE

There isn’t much. Dr. Andrew Gaya of Leaders in Oncology Care, a private clinic in London, looked back at how well mice performed in 70 patients whose outcomes from treatment were already known. About 70 percent of the time, tests in the mice suggested something that turned out to have helped the patients. And if something had not worked in the mice it almost never worked in a patient.

There is no evidence that using mice is any better than care based on medical guidelines or the gene tests that many patients get now to help pick drugs.

THE LIMITS

Mouse testing has some drawbacks. It takes several months, so patients usually have to start therapy before mouse results are in.

The tumor grafts are under the mouse skin — not in places where the cancer normally occurs, such as the pancreas or lungs, and therefore don’t reflect the human tumor’s environment. The mice also have highly impaired immune systems so they can tolerate the human tumors. That means they don’t reflect how a person’s immune system would respond to a treatment and cannot be used to test immunotherapies.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The mice may be best for cancers that have spread widely, or that have returned after initial treatment, to help figure out what to try next. That helped Yaron Panov, a 59-year-old Toronto man diagnosed four years ago with liposarcoma, a soft-tissue cancer. No specific drugs were recommended, and “I was given six months to live,” he said.

Tests on his avatar mice suggested the first drug he was prescribed would not work but that one for colon cancer might.

“It was working on the mice so I knew it would work on me,” he said. “It’s such a boost of confidence” and it makes it easier to endure side effects, said Panov, whose cancer is in remission.

 

Tags: Cancer

Next post Business booming for berry growers

Previous post With crime coverage, paper 'challenging community'

Associated Press

About the Author Associated Press

No Comment

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

"Elevating the dialogue"Headline News

South Florida Times

Ex-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to join White House

Associated Press, June 29, 2022
News

Ransom Everglades School appoints David Clark as COO, interim head

Staff Report, June 29, 2022
News

Brilliant entrepreneur shatters glass ceiling to start human resource business

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022
News

Air Pros USA welcomes CFO Outram

Staff Report, June 29, 2022
Local News

DeSantis vetoes challenge Black lawmakers

S. Florida Times, June 29, 2022
Local News

South Florida Times

The most influential African American weekly newspaper in South Florida

Beatty Media LLC

Follow Us

South Florida Times

3,067
followers
4,052
likes

Videos

South Florida Times

Home values for Black Families

Staff Report, March 23, 2022
Local NewsNewsVideos
Copyright 2020 Beatty Media, LLC.
↑ Back to top