CAN NEW DRUG COMBINATION PREVENT LYMPHOMA RELAPSE?

More potentially good news for lymphoma patients worldwide. An evidently powerful weapon in the growing arsenal of lymphoma-fighting drugs appears to be on its way toward human clinical trials in Europe.

Scientists in the UK are very optimistic that lymphoma patients could benefit from a chemical called R848, which triggers the body's immune system to fight cancer. Early lab results in mice have been promising, to say the least.

As reported in Science Daily, Medical News Today and other publications, R848, used in combination with radiation therapy, is four times more likely to result in long-term survival for lymphoma patients than radiation therapy alone, according to researchers at the University of Manchester.

Just what is R848? It's a chemical that sends signals to certain molecules known as receptors found on the surface of immune cells, triggering them into action. According to the new study published online in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), researchers found that injections of R848 can generate a rapid expansion of specific anti-lymphoma immune cells known as "killer T cells."

A highly respected lymphoma patient advocate explains to me that R848 is a toll-like receptor agonist - just like CpG, which Pfizer shelved because there wasn't enough money in it. TRL agonists are immune stimulators. So the strategy is to use the radiation to kill most of the lymphoma to deliver a clinical complete response, the advocate says.

But that is not the same as a molecular complete response and some lymphoma cells remain. So this approach (which others are also using) is to follow induction therapy with an immunostimulator - such as R848, CpG or lenalidomide (Revlimid) - to prompt the immune system to continue policing and subduing malignant cells. The goal is to prolong PFS. Such is the hope in the ECOG trial using Revlimid as a maintenance therapy. 

In indolent lymphomas, the immune system plays a big role, hence waxing and waning, the advocate says. The immunomodulators, including the toll-like receptors, turbo charge immune therapies and can even act on their own - but are so much stronger when used with something like Rituxan, another antibody or a vaccine.  

One patient I know received vaccine + CpG and she and others like her responded well. There's a new trial for the BiovadID vaccine teaming it with lenalidomide, another immunostimulator. Studies of Rituxan paired with Revlimid (lenalidomide) have been showing excellent results. 

CpG is a TLR9 agonist and R848 is a TLR7 & 8 agonist. The patient advocate tells me that there is some preliminary evidence out of Ron Levy's lab that suggests TRL 7 & 8 may not as effective as TRL 9 (which CpG targets). However there is not a lot of data on this as of yet.

Dr. Simon Dovedi of the University of Manchester's Institute of Cancer Sciences and the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, said of R848 in a statement: 

"Excitingly, we think that this new approach to treating cancer could be capable of giving patients a better response to conventional therapies through the generation of a lymphoma-specific immune response against tumor cells. This could be the key to ensuring long-term survival in more patients and reducing the number of relapses after initial therapy."

The Manchester researchers tested injections of R848 in combination with radiation therapy in lab mice with lymphoma. It was found to have few side effects, with 100 percent of mice achieving long-term survival compared to just 28 percent of those mice that were treated with radiation therapy alone. 

In those mice that achieved long-term survival, any reintroduction of cancer was completely rejected by the immune system in 75 percent of cases. That's pretty impressive.

Early phase clinical trials of R848 for human patients with lymphoma are expected to happen soon. How long it takes for this med to make its way to North America, though, is still anyone's guess.

Professor Chris Bunce, Research Director of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research in the UK, said in a statement: 

"While it is still early and this treatment has not yet been tested in humans, these results are hugely promising. One of the major obstacles to long-term successful treatment for many types of lymphoma has been relapse after initial successful treatment. Treatment with R848 can prime T cells to recognize various tumour-associated antigens, protecting patients from the return of the cancer."

BREAKING NEWS: GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES ARRESTED AT DEBATE

Not a banner day for our beloved democracy when a legitimate candidate for President of the United States is arrested simply for practicing her right to free speech. 

But so it goes...

Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, the Green Party presidential and vice-presidential nominees, were just forcibly prevented from entering the grounds of tonight's presidential debate and arrested by local police. 

You can watch the video here. 

Stein and Honkala, who'll appear on 85 percent of ballots nationwide in the upcoming election, were detained by the cops when they tried to enter the grounds of Hofstra University where the debate is scheduled to take place in a couple of hours. 

They're currently still in police custody.

Stein and Honkala walked toward the campus with supporters earlier today, then held an impromptu press conference in which Stein said, "We are here to bring the courage of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of democracy." 

When they turned and began walking onto the debate grounds, police physically stopped them and pushed them back. The two women sat down and the police arrested them, saying that Stein and Honkala would be charged with "obstructing traffic," a charge Jill Stein for President staffer and lawyer Alex Howard calls "bogus." 

There was no through-traffic visible at any time during the incident, he says. 

In an interview this afternoon, Ben Manski, the Green Party ticket's campaign manager, told me he thinks the arrest is "outrageous. The reality is that Jill and Cheri pose a threat to no one except for the political establishment. The Commission on Presidential Debates (organizers of tonight's debate) is an illegitimate institution established to prevent the American people from having access to all a qualified candidates. It is intended to limit our politics to pre-selected options."

Manski adds that "the positive thing about this election is that the movement for more open and fair debates is gaining momentum, we're seeing a growing section of the population not only becoming more aware of this but speaking out against controlled debates, which do not serve the American people."

Several petitions calling for more open debates have also been posted on Change.org, which I wrote about recently for Newsweek/The Daily Beast.

And more than 14,000 people have signed a statement calling on the Commission on Presidential Debates to change its criteria. 

The statement reads, "The debates must include every candidate who is on enough ballots to win the White House and who has demonstrated a minimal level of support -- meaning either 1% of the vote in a credible national poll, or qualification for federal matching funds, or both. In 2012, the Green and Libertarian party candidates both meet all of these criteria and are both contenders for the presidency. These debates belong to the people, not the politicians or Wall Street."

There've been protests all over the country about making these debates more inclusive. They've taken place in Boston, home of Mitt Romney's headquarters, and in Denver and Kentucky, the sites of the two recent presidential and vice presidential debates.

Assuming she gets out of jail, Stein will be participating in several upcoming debates, including the following:

Thursday, October 18 -- The Independent Voter Network debate between Stein and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party can be viewed live on October 18, 2012 beginning at 7:00 PM EST on http://ivn.us/, or on IVN.us' Google+ and YouTube page. 

Monday, October 22 -- Time TBA: Democracy Now continues its "Expanding the Debate" series with a live broadcast during the third presidential debate with real-time responses from Stein and Justice Party nominee Rocky Anderson from the Justice Party. 

Thursday, October 23 & Tuesday October 30 -- Free and Equal Election's Alternative Debate will be available live online, streaming from http://freeandequal.org/live on Oct. 23 and Oct 30 at 9:00 PM EST. This debate will include Stein, Johnson, Anderson, and Virgil Goode from the Constitution Party.