Ramucirumab – no food supply for you!

RemwesMedical — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:26:31 +0000

There is a promising new medicine for the treatment of various forms of cancer. This new medicine is known as RAMUCIRUMAB.
Cancer is a formidable foe. It not only starts out quietly and often grows quietly, it also makes sure that it creates its own blood supply to feed its growing appetite as it grows.
Lately, researchers have focused on this ability of cancer to create its own blood supply – its supply lines as it were – as an Achilles’ heel with which to attack and kill growing cancers. If we stop a cancer’s ability to feed itself, we thereby stop its ability to grow and ultimately to survive.
The way that cancers make new blood supplies is by making a protein in the blood called a VEGF. Think of VEGF as a baseball that comes to the baseball glove. The baseball glove is the VEGF RECEPTOR.
Well, when the baseball (the VEGF) arrives at the baseball glove (the VEGF RECEPTOR) this triggers the production of new blood vessels which in turn bring more blood and nutrition to the growing cancer.
Well, a relatively new medication which has been recently approved for the treatment of both Colon Cancer and Lung Cancer is called Bevacizumab (or Avastin). Avastin binds to the baseball (the VEGF) BEFORE it has a chance to be caught by the baseball glove (the VEGF RECEPTOR). Thus, if VEGF can never get to the VEGF RECEPTOR, then the reaction that happens when those two get together can never happen and, thus, no new blood vessels are made.
Well, what if we were to now make a new medicine to target not the baseball but the baseball GLOVE?
Well that is what the experimental medicine, Ramucirumab is. This is the first medicine that targets the baseball GLOVE (the VEGF RECEPTOR). What’s more, it SPECIFICALLY targets a very SPECIFIC TYPE of baseball glove. In other words, it specifically targets a type of VEGF Receptor known as the TYPE 2 VEGF Receptor. Thus, if the VEGF Receptor is taken out of commission, then, again, as with the medicine Bevacizumab (Avastin), the cancer cannot make new blood vessels to feed itself.
In a recent article in the February 10th, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researches prove that this new medicine can be safely given to patients and it is reasonably well tolerated. It also promises to be a new addition to our armaments and weapons for treating cancer. Even though this medicine, Ramucirumab, is still investigational, it promises to be a wonderful new addition to our treatments for possibly Colon Cancer, Lung Cancer and possibly Kidney Cancer.
All of these concepts and more are covered in easy to understand language in the the Lung Cancer and Colon Cancer audio CDs available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com

Avastin

RemwesMedical — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:17:10 +0000

When an army moves forward, it needs to make sure that its SUPPLY LINE is able to keep up with it. The supply line is critical to an army as that is what will provide the army with food rations and ammunition for the soldiers and gasoline for the tanks. Cancers do a similar function. When a cancer grows, it understands that it needs to make more blood vessels to feed itself. The tiny little blood vessel that fed the cancer when the cancer was small can no longer feed it as the cancer grows. So, in response to this, cancers make their own blood vessels. These new blood vessels thus increase the amount of blood that is feeding the cancer. The way that cancers make new blood vessels is by making a protein called a Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ( abbreviated as VEGF). Avastin (which is also called Bevacizumab) is medication which is an antibody that is able to “lock on and grab” the VEGF and therefore does not let it “dock” to its receptor on the cell. If VEGF cannot “dock” onto its receptor, it cannot work to make new blood vessels for the cancer to increase its ability to feed itself. Avastin will thus cause the cancer to starve since, as the cancer grows and it cannot make new blood vessels to feed itself, it thus outgrows its blood supply. Like an army that starves because it moves forward faster than the supply line which brings it food, ammunition and gasoline, Avastin starves the cancer by blocking the production of new “supply lines” blood vessels. The cancer can therefore not adequately feed itself and starves. Avastin, thus, helps us to starve the cancer. In a nutshell, this is how Avastin works.

bevacizumab – Cancer In Plain English – Cancer Information

Ramucirumab – no food supply for you!

Avastin