MSI Press Blog

  If you’ve spent any time online in the last few years, you’ve probably seen two very different claims about mRNA vaccines. One paints them as a breakthrough in cancer treatment. The other whispers that they might cause cancer. Both ideas travel under the same banner, but they couldn’t be more different. And for anyone living with cancer, recovering from it, or simply trying to stay informed, the noise can feel overwhelming. So let’s slow it down. Let’s separate the science from the static. 1. The hopeful side: mRNA as a cancer treatment This is the part of the story that deserves more attention. mRNA technology—the same platform used in COVID‑19 vaccines—is now being adapted to teach the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells . Not in theory. In clinical trials. In real patients. Here’s the simplest way to picture it: Cancer cells carry mutations that make them look slightly “off,” but not off enough for the immune system to notice. An mRNA cancer vaccine delivers t...

  Now, here is something interesting:  Cancer Breakthrough As Yale Radiologists Develop 'Trojan Horse' Therapy.  Good reading for a Monday morning!  For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)   Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face ...

  Carl died of Cancer of Unknown Primary -- never could find the original cancer; CUP is frustrating that way. Of the cancers that were known, stomach cancer was one of the five cancers that wracked his body. We did not know anything until it was too late. Carl lived only five months after his initial diagnosis. Had we known what to look for -- and even though to check out little aches and pains and oddities -- he might have fared much better.  For those still living with what may seem like little aches and pains and oddities, here are some  Stomach cancer: causes, warning signs, and treatment (msn.com) . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on th...

A new study from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has revealed a major side effect of the oral medication alpelisib that is prescribed to  breast cancer patients . Read about what the findings were HERE . Sheesh! It is so disappointing -- and frustrating -- to have to deal with the side-effects of the only drugs that can save your life. We went through that a little with Carl's Cancer of Uknown Primary. He did not last long enough to have many side effects. But many, many people do! Fingers crossed for new drugs that are free of bad side effects. For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and ...

  I found this article from the National Science Foundation on nanoparticles, particularly their use in treatment of cancer, to be quite interesting. Rather than repeat the findings, HERE is the link to the original article. To read more about this study, click  HERE . Read more about Cancer Diary posts  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The web page is in its infancy but expected to expand into robustness. To that end, it is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC n...

  I like to follow the blog of Barbara Karnes , hospice nurse par excellence. Much of what she has to say to hospice nurses about end-of-life issues in general apply to caregivers of cancer patients in particular. Her latest post, " For some doctors, it just isn’t in their tool kit to stop trying to treat,"  reflects our experience very well. Only when Carl fell and needed four people to lift him and get him to the hospital and x-rays showed complete take over by cancer of four major organs along with blood clots in his legs and lungs did the doctor suggest hospice (although he also expressed a willingness to continue treatment -- a different treatment -- if we wanted). We chose hospice, but the period of time was short. Carl returned from the hospital and went on hospice August 7. He died August 16. I have always wished that the doctor had put the hospice option in front of us much earlier, perhaps even at the beginning of the 5-month period during which the doctor tried eve...

  The final conversation had with Carl's oncologist was what we needed in our first conversation but did not get. Not quite two weeks before Carl died, at which time he was in a subacute facility, having fallen the week before, been admitted to the hospital, then shifted to the care facility, the oncologist called us with the results of the latest scans. "Not good at all," he said, and he gave us three options: let nature take its course -- Carl could move to in-hospital hospice or in-home hospice (we chose the latter, and while we had a very bad experience with the initial hospice , it was still the best choice) try out another chemical compound - He told us he had given us the most appropriate and strongest ("the best") that he had, but if we wanted to try another mixture, he would look at other options take part in a clinical trial - He did not of any for Cancer of Unknown Primary and would have to do some research; there might not be any, and there might no...