Sunday, December 12, 2010

AWARENESS + targeted ACTION = SUCCESS


pictured : Ursula Koldovski PhD who died of pancreatic cancer Oct.18th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxizhpHxTm8&feature=player_embedded

_________________________________________-

It is so frustrating to see all these people still dying from cancer.
Pennies in Action is this week 3 years old. During this time cancer deaths went globally from the number 4 spot to the number 1 spot …..
Being in Elite sports all my life, being fixed on a goal is a way of life for me.
Watching what is done to remove cancer as threat seems to me more going about it in a recreational way.
There is no combined effort as we had to get to the moon. Money gets spread out but there does not seem to be a concentrated effort to reach the goal. Nothing of great value seems to funded to the end. As a patient you wonder if the goal ever was to find the cure or just to prolong life since cancer is big business…
In my heart I believe that Dr. Czerniecki and his group are in it for the right reason, they want the cure.!!!! NIH has refunded his research. He needs 75% success rate in his patients of the trial to fulfill the requirements of the FDA. The trial needs 60 patients so he has to have success with 45 . They fund 40 so from the get go this would fail unless we raise extra funds…..
From what I have seen this research is the real hope we have to prevent and treat cancer and even prevent recurrence in a humane way without all the horrible side effects.
For more info go to www.penniesinaction.org
Please help and join the crusade……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-z3RVwReEg&feature=email

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azud_WBqDzw&feature=player_embedded

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A scientists explanation of the breast cancer vaccine research


Dear Uschi,

Unfortunately, there is not really a simple way to explain what we do in a very concise way that is both accurate and can be easily understood by non-scientists. However, I shall do my best.

If T lymphocytes are the fighting generals of the immune system, dendritic cells act as the reconnaissance scouts. DCs like to take up station at sites of anatomical barriers, i.e. where the "inside" meets the "outside", (the skin, mucous membranes, alimentary canal). Here they wait for two things, signs of infection and/or inflammatory tissue damage. The surface of DCs are studded with specialized receptors, which act as sensors for infection or inflammation. When they contact such signals, a specialized maturation/activation/migration program is initiated. DCs collect a "snapshot" of the proteins present in the environment of the activation signals (such as protiens from an infectious agent), gain acces to draining lymphatic vessels, and travel to the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are populated by many T lymphocytes. The DCs seek out T cells and "present" the proteins acquired at the peripheral sites. The T cells then become activated by the DCs and then go out on a "search and destroy" mission to eliminate anything that resembles the proteins presented by the DC (such as a bacterium infecting the body). Now here are the reasons why we think our approach is giving us superior results. Please note in many cases, we were not the first to try some of these things (though in certain instances we were), but mostly it is the fact that we assembled a number of innovatons into an integrated strategy.

1) All vaccines used (like a standard tetanus shot) rely on the material provided by the immunization to be picked up by DCs for presentation to T cells. However, we believe that the sort of immune response needed to eliminate tumors is so intense, and of a particular type that the best way to achieve it is to actually culture large numbers of the DCs outside the body and then administer them already "loaded" with the vaccine proteins.

2) We activate the DCs in a special way that mimicks infection. We use a special preparation of a compound that makes up the cell wall of bactieria called lipopolysaccharide (LPS). One of the sensors on the surface of DCs specifically recognizes LPS leading to their activation. We think that by "fooling" the DCs into believing they are under attack by a microbe, the response they generate will be particularly strong. We are the first to use LPS to activated DCs in a clinical trial. We believe that other methods to activate the DCs do not allow for maximal function.

3) We think that soluble products produced by the DCs supply special signals to T cells that allow them to be particularly effective against cancer. Brian showed that one of these soluble products, called Interleukin-12 (IL-12) endowed the T cells with the capacity to recognize and kill tumors in the test tube. T cells that were sensitized by DCs incapable of producing IL-12 could not recognize or kill tumor cells. Most other investigators trying to produce anti-cancer vaccines under-appreciate the need for IL-12. By combining LPS with another cytokine called interferon gamma (IFN-g), the DCs can produce large quantities of IL-12. Most other methods of producing DCs for vaccination will not induce them to produce IL-12.

4) We inject the DC vaccines directly into the lymph nodes. Most others inject the DCs at distal locations with the expectation that the DCs will migrate to the nodes on their own. In fact, only a very small proportion of cultured DCs actually make thier way to lymph nodes after injection. So people who do not inject directly into the nodes are cheating themselves of the best possible immune response.

5) We harvest the vaccine DCs at a time point where they are making maximal amounts of IL-12. The DCs follow a very precise program after activation and only make IL-12 for a very short window of time. Supplying the DCs too early or too late will squander the benefit of IL-12. Most other investigators give no thought to the kinetics of cytokine production and only supply DCs long after they stop making such products.

6) We specifically target cancer proteins that are associated with the tumor's ability to cause disease. HER-2/neu is a poor prognostic indicator. HER-2/neu over-producing tumors are more likely to recur after surgical resection, are more likely to be invasive and metastatic, and can be resistant to some front-line chemotherapy agents. We target such proteins so that if we are lucky, all of the tumor is killed. If we are slightly less than lucky, we can cull the tumor of the most dangerous cells leaving behind a residuum of disease that is less aggressive, more indolent, and more amenable to other therapies.

7) We target early disease. Most vaccines of the past have targeted later stage disease. This is because experimental therapies are usually supplied only when the conventional therapies have failed (hence the patient is further along in course of disease). This causes a number of problems. Late stage patients are sicker, often have little time to live, have large volumes of tumor needing to be destroyed, pre-treatment with radiation and chemo can negatively impact the bone marrow (and hence immune system), and advanced tumor are known to play tricks to turn off the immune response. For all of these reasons, we want to make vaccine therapy the first line of defense rather than the last line of defense. We hope to get to a point where vaccine therapy is used first, followed by surgery, and then, if necessary, radiation and or chemo (concentrating on techniques that do the least damage to immunity). It is also important to note that with advances in screening, we are likely in the future to catch tumors earlier and earlier. So our new therapies should be targeted here rather than late-stage disease. This does not mean that vaccines could not have benefit in later disease. But we should optimize them on early disease first before trying them out on later disease.

8) There are two types of T cells, so called "helper" T cells (Th) and the "Cytoxic" T cells (CTL). For a variety of historic reasons an excessive emphasis has been placed on CTL. Many vaccine attempts have focused exclusively on CTL, ignoring Th. We have formulated an approach that specifically recruits Th as well as CTL. We think this greatly enhances vaccine efficacy.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

LIVE TO WIN ... WIN TO LIVE...


picture: Ann Fonfa, Shelley Dodt and me

All my life I have been a competitor and all my life I LIVED TO WIN

Going to Championships and Olympics was amazing and participating in all those things as a skater and coach over the last 40 years was incredible.

Then I was confronted with cancer…

All of a sudden everything changed.

I realized in this situation you have to WIN TO LIVE.

Never rang the words of Vince Lombardi more true

“Winning is not everything it is the only thing !!!!”

Please check us out at www.penniesinaction.org and join the ever growing army of crusaders to win this big one…

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember the ones that passed….

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Lots is happening


Watch these videos about the research:

1.Very human side of 2 brilliant scientists and watch how serious they get when they talk about the breast cancer vaccine…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azud_WBqDzw

2.A tribute to Ursula Koldovsky Ph.D life. She succumbed to pancreatic cancer October 18th 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b43Q9r48pZA&feature=share

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Big thanks to the Flyers Organization




Yesterday the Flyers invited us again to display our message .

Pennies in Action currently raising funds and awareness for Dr. Czerniecki’s breast cancer vaccine research, which is in it’s 2nd phase of human trial at the University of Pennsylvania.

So far it has been very successful, but they need 50 more patients to participate in this free trial for DCIS HER2/neu. If you are diagnosed with DCIS please insist that they check if you are HER2/ neu positive, because it is not done routinely.

If you do that now , before you get any other treatment ,it will increase your chances to prevent recurrance. Afterwards you still have all the other options available to you...

For more info contact me at ukeszler@comcasr.net or 610 909 0428.

Friday, October 1, 2010

I NEED YOUR HELP TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT .....




It is October which is breast cancer awareness month.

Please help getting the message out to women that are diagnosed with DCIS HER2/neu or recurrence of it.

It is an added option that uses your own immune system to fight the cancer.

You need to get the vaccine prior to surgery which still will be performed at the end of the 6 weeks. You still could get all the other conventional treatments afterwards. So far 100% of the patients had an immune response to this treatment. It should also catch cells that were deposited outside of the breast. It also gives added protection against recurrence….

They need 50 more patients. The sooner the trial is finished the faster it will be available to everyone.

Right now the trial itself is free. I wish I could take advantage of this, but my cancer was invasive and so I did not qualify for this particular trial…

The next one planned is for invasive and triple negative breast cancer, as soon as funding is in place.

If interested I can get you in touch with patients that have gone thru the trial in the last 6 years!!!!!!

Please help me to get rid of breast cancer ,so we can continue doing this for all the other cancers…..

www.penniesinaction.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-z3RVwReEg&feature=email

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

THERE TRULY ARE GUARDIAN ANGLES !!!!!!

When I came to Germany last week, I got the shock of my life, when my sister-in-law told me that my brother had had a stroke 4 weeks prior. (she did not want to scare me before since she knew there was nothing I could do from America…

He was in the train on his way to work when he seemed to get symptoms and ultimately had an epileptic attack caused by the stroke.

A lady nearby noticed something and immediately called the conductor who quickly called 911. Within minutes a helicopter arrived where they stopped the train between stops. There are always doctors on board and he received treatment immediately…

He ended up 5 weeks in rehab, where he had to work on physical and mental therapies all day long.

Imagine he is back to work since yesterday !!!!

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE !!!!

The woman calling for help so quickly saved my brothers life. We have been trying to find her since we do not know who it was. There are no words to describe our gratitude to this guardian angel. If anyone hears about this story and knows who it was ,please contact me at ukeszler@comcast.net

Here are some warning signs of stroke Please do not ignore them and act swiftly!!!

Lay persons can command a potential stroke victim to:

  1. Smile.
  2. Raise both arms.
  3. Speak a simple sentence.

The three commands, known as the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS), are used by health professionals as a simple first step in the assessment process for signs of stroke. If a person has trouble with any of these simple commands, emergency services (911) should be called immediately with a description of the situation, noting that you suspect the individual is having a stroke.

A stroke results from impaired oxygen delivery to brain cells via the bloodstream. According to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the five major signs of stroke are the sudden onset of:

  1. Numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body. The loss of voluntary movement and/or sensation may be complete or partial. There may also be an associated tingling sensation in the affected area.
  2. Confusion, trouble speaking or understanding. Sometimes weakness in the muscles of the face can cause drooling.
  3. Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  4. Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
  5. Severe headache with no known cause

THEY HAVE COME SO FAR IN STROKE TREATMENT, THAT YOU CAN RETURN TO A NORMAL LIFE, AS LONG AS YOU ACT VERY FAST!!!!