#immune activation

[internationalbiotherapy]

Unveiling the Power of Oncolytic Viruses in Cancer Therapy: A Promising Frontier

Oncolytic viruses represent a promising frontier in cancer therapy, leveraging the innate ability of viruses to selectively target and destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. This innovative approach harnesses the dual power of direct cytotoxicity and immune system activation, offering new hope in the fight against various forms of cancer.

Historical Perspective and Evolution

The concept of using viruses to combat cancer dates back to the 1960s, when initial experiments explored the potential of viruses like poliovirus and adenovirus to induce tumor regression. These early efforts, though promising, faced significant challenges due to the potential for uncontrollable systemic infections. This led to a temporary halt in research until advances in DNA and RNA mapping technology enabled scientists to engineer safer, more targeted oncolytic viruses.

Among the most promising oncolytic viruses is the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). NDV specifically targets and kills cancer cells, inducing immune responses that further aid in eliminating tumors. Its unique properties make it an invaluable tool in developing personalized cancer therapies, enhancing treatment efficacy while minimizing side effects. Alongside NDV, other oncolytic viruses such as herpes simplex virus (HSV), reovirus, and vaccinia virus are being extensively studied and show significant potential in the realm of cancer treatment. Each of these viruses offers unique mechanisms of action and therapeutic benefits, broadening the scope and effectiveness of oncolytic virotherapy.

How Oncolytic Viruses Operate

Oncolytic viruses are adept at identifying and attaching themselves to cancer cells, exploiting specific receptors that distinguish them from healthy cells. Once inside the cancer cell, these viruses replicate, triggering a process known as apoptosis—programmed cell death. As infected cancer cells break down, they release new viral particles, which then proceed to infect neighboring cancer cells. This cycle continues, effectively amplifying the treatment's impact within the tumor.

Moreover, oncolytic viruses initiate an immune response against cancer cells by exposing viral antigens. This dual mechanism—direct cell destruction and immune activation—enhances the body's natural defenses against cancer, potentially eliminating residual cancer cells that conventional therapies might miss.

Enhancing Therapeutic Efficacy

To optimize the efficiency of oncolytic viruses, researchers are exploring various strategies. One approach involves combining oncolytic virotherapy with existing treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy. These therapies not only complement each other but also help mitigate immune responses that could prematurely neutralize the virus. By weakening the immune system's vigilance around the tumor site, these treatments create a more conducive environment for the oncolytic viruses to exert their effects.

Furthermore, scientists are investigating ways to augment the immune response triggered by oncolytic viruses. This includes integrating viral antigens into personalized cancer vaccines, which educate the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells displaying these antigens. Such approaches transform "cold" tumors—those previously resistant to immune attacks—into "hot" targets for immune-mediated destruction.

Administration and Future Directions

Currently, oncolytic viruses are primarily administered intravenously or directly into localized tumors that are accessible. Intravenous administration allows for widespread dissemination of the virus throughout the body, targeting metastatic cancer cells that may have spread beyond the primary tumor site. Alternatively, direct injection into tumors converts them into sites of ongoing viral replication, essentially turning the tumor itself into an internal factory for generating anti-cancer agents.

Looking Ahead

The future of oncolytic virotherapy holds promise for further advancements. Ongoing research aims to refine virus engineering techniques to enhance tumor specificity and reduce potential side effects. Additionally, regulatory approvals for systemic administration are pending, suggesting broader accessibility and adoption of this cutting-edge treatment modality.

In conclusion, oncolytic viruses represent a paradigm shift in cancer treatment, merging virology with immunotherapy to combat malignancies in novel ways. As research continues to unravel the complexities of viral interactions with cancer cells and the immune system, the potential for personalized and potent cancer therapies continues to grow. With each breakthrough, the prospect of turning viruses once considered harmful into potent allies in the fight against cancer becomes increasingly tangible.

[slyandthefamilybook]

[axcyndraws]

I love them so much-

Double Hearted by the wonderful @kitsuneisi and @xmaruu11 !!!

[the-bat-bros]

Bruce wdym you don’t want your girlfriend bonding with your kids how else is she supposed to integrate into the family?

From the latest update of Wayne Family Adventures on Webtoons

[sanasanakun]

People try too hard to make Curly an active participant in Jimmy's abuse. Isn't the whole point that he's passive in everything Jimmy does? Abuse occurs because he actively doesn't do anything? Not to call someone out or be mean, but I saw a post saying Anya's ID being in Curly's locker at the beginning shows that he intended to prevent Anya from filing an HR report and I disagree. I get where that interpretation is coming from, but I think it's a little uncharitable. I don't like being too kind to Curly because he's like...a morally mid dude at best lol But if we're going by the HR report interpretation, I would say it's more likely he requested Anya's ID in order to file an HR report on her behalf. After all, the only way to contact Pony (that we see) is in the cockpit, he's the Captain, and Pony Express sucks bad so I wouldn't put it past them to only allow the Captain to use the communication device thing. As we see before, Curly is the only one able to use tools around the ship that you would think other employees could use (ex. Swansea should be able to use the axe if he's the repair guy. Idk why they'd need an ax but that falls under manual labor which Swansea is designated for as the mechanic/fixer dude. But it has to go through Curly). I never got the vibe that Curly moved to actively protect Jimmy. He just lets things happen without say a word; Jimmy walks all over him, and by extension, the whole crew. I get why people would think that because he gives the whole "Hey Jimmy, we can get through this together, bud" spiel right before the crash. This part interests me a lot because there's so many ways to interpret Curly's intentions there. My interpretation is that Curly is on autopilot mode. The responses seem so stilted in comparison to Jimmy's. Like it's the kind of thing Curly's said before again and again and again when Jimmy's gotten in trouble. However, as others previously pointed out, I don't think Curly ever dealt with Jimmy doing something this irredeemable. He doesn't know how to respond, so he just goes for the default "You've gotten through tough situations before. Work through it one step at a time." Like the response is lame af lol I think he was in shock; he was scared (and just so I can say it one more time: he's super lame).

Anyway, this is way longer than I intended and I've said things a billion people have already stated. But uhhh tldr the whole point of Curly's character is he's passive; he never acts. He just watches. Making him an active participant in the abuse by taking actions to cover for Jimmy (like preventing Anya from filing an HR report) defeats the purpose of his character. He's a bystander.

[farads]

Au concept:

Viggo is a telepath (maybe develops telepathy later on in life so he can develop a love for the game beforehand?) and gets quite bored of playing games when he knows what someone's going to do next

Then enter hiccup who's actions are impossible to glean because they're all in dragonese

He would be so intrigued I think

Unfortunately I don't have time or spoons to write this :(

[actiwitch]

i think a lot of people mistake vegans for believing themselves to be "morally superior" rather than the actual, and very reasonable stance that IF YOU HAVE THE OPTION NOT TO KILL OTHER LIVING BEINGS, YOU SHOULDN'T DO IT.

most of us can understand that it's stupid to wield "oh so you think you're morally superior" against any type of human or environmental rights activists because how do you even respond to that? sure? Because its NOT ABOUT MORAL SUPERIORITY. IT'S ABOUT NOT UNNECESARILY CAUSING HARM.

Also, an activist could be the most annoying, self righteous person on the entire planet, but their stances having NOTHING to do with that. An asshole saying "trans rights" doesn't mean you shouldn't support trans rights because an asshole said it.

PLEASE start looking at veganism like you look at any other form of activism and resistance, and consider what disinformation and propaganda you've been fed about it.

[therantingsage]

This is riddled with spoilers so it's under the cut, but here's my theory:

Doll was never in as much danger as she thought she was.

Doll is down in the labs because she wants to cure herself of the Solver. But I don't think she actually even needed to. I think her solver wasn't a threat to her at all (or at least in the way she thinks it is).

The only two Solver users alive to use for reference here are Nori and Yeva, but if you see that list it says that Yeva had a version of the Patch installed. Reasonably speaking, we can assume that she was patched before the core collapse, because if this happened after, why would Nori still be down there looking for it? They would've known where it is cuz Yeva used it.

But:

Yeva still uses her Solver right before the collapse. I think most people are under the assumption that the Patch completely removes the Solver from the host drone, but this doesn't seem to be the case based on this? While I think it's possible the Patch that gets thrown around by Nori in the flashback is a more recent version than the one Yeva has installed, I'd like to propose an alternative idea.

What if the Patch doesn't remove the abilities associated with the Solver at all? What if it just removes the ability for it to possess you?

You'd likely still overheat and need oil to soothe it, as we see with Doll, but Doll never gets possessed by this need on screen like Uzi does. Uzi's murders are all done under direct influence of the Solver, while Doll is very much in control of herself every single time she kills someone.

Yeva passed down a patched version of the Solver to her daughter, but Nori didn't.

But I don't think Doll knows this. I think Doll just assumed she was better at managing this than Uzi was. That needing to drink oil at all was the curse given to them, and needed to be fixed based on that. And then she sees (since she was there at camp) how Uzi lost control and figured that could probably happen to her too.

So she goes down into the labs, trying to find the cure because she fears that same loss of control, and what does she get told by the one who'd be doing the possessing?

Doll can't get possessed. The Solver has no use for a vessel it cannot control. Therefore, all Doll is is someone who could cause problems if she helps cure the others.

Doll had all the benefits and only some of the drawbacks, thought that was because she was just really good with her powers, and then got killed for not having enough information to do proper risk assessment. The moment she decided to go down there she was on the chopping block.

[overclock-00]

i spend way too much time looking at chaos and nyx's design and i enjoy finding all of the little similarities that symbolize their relationship as parent & child.

maximizing their joint slay by wearing matching earrings and gems on their foreheads.

the purple wispy things floating around nyx as well as the circular parts of the gold collar she wears resemble whatever body horror chaos has going on. and this one might be a reach but it looks like ??? chaos is wearing rings on their left hand just like nyx is.

this one wasn't as obvious to me but chaos' first design has black bat wings sprouting from their head while nyx has them on her shoulders.

the wings change drastically with their second design but one thing that remains similar is that one of their wings reflects the void. or maybe its just made of void ???

they both have little faces on their clothes! these little faces were prevalent in chaos' first design as well but they're smaller in their 2nd design and the ones on the buttons match nyx's really well.

the gemstones on their chest (also retained from chaos' first design) is the most obvious similarity here but also the gold collar thingy that chaos now wears to match nyx. and not to mention the makeup!!

[braxix]

Elrond: I think I might have just killed Gil-Galad...

Galadriel: What? Oh, good for you I guess.

Elrond: You're not mad?

Galadriel: Gil-Galad is fine, Elrond. This is the tenth time you've almost killed him.

Elrond: Um... It is?

[moonmoonthecrabking]

it's so funny that nerdy prudes must die (the song) has so much michie shipping content when. ghost!max literally fucking kills richie. i think. we have a problem.

[professorjirt]

listen it’s none of my business but when you say “Bilbo would have been better for taking the Ring” and then state “Frodo’s character was mishandled” I think maybe you like the Lord of the Rings inside your head more than the one actually written 💀 as if it wasn’t stated multiple times both in the text and by Tolkien himself why Frodo was the Ringbearer. Pleeeeeaaaase PLEEEEAAASE stop giving me gray hairs and take an interest in the text you read and it’s deeper meanings beyond power scaling characters, favoritism and finding the “most efficient way to take the ring to Mordor”. The debates about who should have taken the Ring are the exact same as “they should have flown the eagles to Mordor” except it’s spoken by people who genuinely are avid fans of the books and movies.

[rooksunday]

fluffcember day fifteen: naughty list

Seventeen had never cared about natborn traditions or holidays or whatever other nonsense the galaxy had seen fit to distract his troopers with when they should have been attending to their duty. He had been forced to concede ground, however, after the fall of the former Chancellor and the end of the war Seventeen and the clones had been created to fight. Fine. Some diversions were necessary. Some diversions could be permitted.

In order to, for example, not start screaming and never stop.

Not long after the fall of Kamino, Fordo had banned Seventeen from the range, which had been the first option for his own distraction from what Crackle had 'diagnosed' as existential despair. Crackle was one of few surviving alpha medics, and in the absence of physical wounds to tend, had decided to scrape the holonet for bacta for the mind. Absolute nonsense but Crackle—weak knees, weak heart, bafflingly strong conviction once he dug his heels in—had ordered Seventeen to at least pretend to give a kriff about anything other than sanctioned murder.

That had been the start of the screaming portion of the affair. Somewhere among all that, Seventeen had managed to convey that he did give a kriff, and had protested as such. Possibly at longer length that his dignity could stand.

Out loud where other beings can see, then, had been the dry response.

Seventeen didn't remember Crackle being so mouthy. It had reminded him of the command cadets.

Following that enlightening exchange, and Fordo intervening to throw soft furnishings at Seventeen like they were live ordnance, it had been an embarrassingly short surrender to Seventeen finally reading the comm messages he'd been ignoring, whereupon he'd learnt that half the former Grand Army of the Republic had become bedwetters over something called 'Life Day'. Some nattie holiday. Yet, having nothing better to do—and being banned from anything with higher yield than a loaf of bread—Seventeen had researched what that was about, and from there. Well.

He'd had the idea, hadn't he.

And, in his forced retirement, a glut of time to bring the idea into being.

All of which had led to Seventeen sitting in the single studio into which he'd been boxed away, in the complex on the planet where Fordo had dragged him after the fall of Kamino, watching his comm light up with even more messages than he'd received since said fall. (The declaration of independence by the alphas had been broadcast across half the galaxy, Seventeen framed forever behind Fordo's shoulder, teeth bared in victory.)

Crackle let himself into Seventeen's room after his furious knocking went ignored.

"Seventeen, what the kark did you do? I've been getting messages from troopers I didn't think knew I existed, checking to see if you have a head injury we don't all already know about," Crackle bitched, creaking his way over to sit on the arm of Seventeen's armchair.

"Sounds like a failure in opsec. Get off my chair, your fat ass will make it lopsided."

"I'll sit on the other side next time. Or I can get Fordo in here if you prefer? Even it out?" Seventeen grunted and Crackle snorted. "Thought so." He dug a knuckle into Seventeen’s traps, where there had always been a gap in their armour. "Talk me through what this is all about."

"Life Day. Naughty list."

"…Talk more words."

Seventeen rolled his eyes and slouched back in his armchair, stretching one foot to hook around the low table where he'd thrown his comm. The scrape of the table across the bare floor made Crackle twitch and dig his knuckle in again. Seventeen jabbed Crackle sharply in the inner thigh, then grabbed his comm and tossed it at the other alpha, forcing Crackle to choose to retaliate or catch the comm.

He caught the comm.

Crackle had always been a softie.

Beautiful silence descended as Crackle read through the relevant page that Seventeen had bookmarked on his comm, expecting an interrogation from one or other of alphas packed into the complex. Seventeen checked the absence of dirt beneath his nails as Crackle read.

"Naughty list," Crackle finally said.

"That's right."

"Coal."

Seventeen hummed in affirmation. Then he seesawed his hand. "Coal-ish. Fossil fuels are expensive."

"You boxed up and sent a coal-ish rock to half the cee-cees. With no explanation. Because you decided they're on the naughty list for Life Day?" Crackle confirmed, his voice not giving anything away.

Seventeen didn't allow himself to smile. He'd been very serious in his assessment of the command class, after all.

"I did," he said, with a nod.

A loud smacking noise ricocheted in Seventeen's ear as Crackle delivered an obnoxious kiss to the side of his head. Seventeen had scarcely finished recoiling from that before Crackle was hauling him bodily to his feet and tugging him toward the door.

"What the k— Slow down! What are you doing? You're a medic, how are you so karking slippery—"

"Stop struggling and come with me. You're a kriffin' genius! Come on, if you tell Fordo how you did it, we can get a load of the cee-tees too and really fuck with them—"

Seventeen stopped struggling and let himself be tugged along by Crackle's enthusiasm. Sometimes a soldier had to accept there were battles not worth the fight.

Sometimes they even had to smile about losing.

[fanaroff]

If we can no longer afford cost of living while having a full time job, then we will have nothing to loose. In any case, we are going to end up in the streets: homeless or protesting.