I've done a pretty good job of persuading myself, lol, that it really was the move to Europe and 5-ala assisted resections that finally got us to the point where we could no longer justify putting anyone on placebo, AND, at the same time, had to deal with a higher level of confounding (but perhaps ultimately interpretable) psPD. It's the point, as a board, with your blood and sweat, that we figured out the latter 108 or so were doing better. imho. It's the highlight that explains Jerry Jasinowski's comment the results had started to become "unusually good." imho.
5-ala is used in most of Europe to assist GBM resection during the surgery time in question for this trial.
5-ala makes tumors more immunogenic. Which would almost certainly have made them easier for DCVax-L to target.
5-ala, even with blue light at 417 nanometers for surgical assistance, also has the benefit of killing some surface tumor antigens whilst in others increasing tumor immunogenicity I just talked about. Again, this likely has the added effect of providing a more immunogenic lysate since that (5-ala enhanced) tumor is then processed through the freeze thaw process. Both the 5-ala and freeze-thaw also increase the DAMPS (danger signals) which then also help stimulate the DCs for DCVax-L.
5-ala allows removal of more tumor cells, which allows DCVax-L to work its effect upon the immune system with less tumor local and systemic interference.
Nearly all the things I mentioned above, excepting my connection to DCVax-L, were figured out about 5-ala in 2015.
The thing is, now the U.S. is starting to use 5-ala for surgical resections in GBM more and more.
It's pretty hard to refute these factors. The one that put me over the top was that the same light used to trigger 5-ala for diagnostic and surgical perspectives can also be used to trigger immunogenicity and surface aptosis of some cancer cells.
Of course we know Dr. Ashkan uses 5-ala assisted surgery, and he is the most unabashed advocate for DCVax-L.
imho.
Respect Risk. Conduct Your Own Due Diligence. Manage your assets wisely. Diversify.
