My name is Thomas Helleday, a cancer scientist leading a lab of 70 scientist. Lets do an AMA!

I've had breast cancer. For years, I had a peculiar pain in one breast that became a tumor and resulted in a mastectomy. Now I have a similar pain in my remaining breast. Although tests reveal no mass, I suspect an eventual tumor. So, Question: might a report of pain indicate the formation of a tumor before it is noted by other formal tests?

There is no definate answer, but I would Think that your gut feeling is not too far away from the truth. Indeed, many cancers causes pain and this can for sure be a sign of cancer - although very small. I'd go for a second opinion if I were you!

I've got a great oncologist, but your reply encourages me to speak up at my next exam, which is a month from now. Thanks!

Keep checking it... identifying lesions early is key for long term survival...

Looks like a great set of work. Is there any cancer in particular that you are most hoping to target, or expect this works better with? (Or is it theoretically likely to be equally as effective on all cancers?)

Actually, we are thinking differently and now have a treatment for all cancer... YES I mean ALL cancer... see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAPYaSQPios and our Nature paper from 2014. It may not be a cure - but it will prolong Life likely for most...

Wow that's excellent.

Thank you!

What an amazing approach

Thank you!

How much is running a lab of 70 scientists like herding cats?

The key is to realize they are cats and let them explore... However, we also have joint goals, which really helps!

I just found out on Friday that I have colon cancer in the sigmoid colon. No further details yet until the surgery on January 6th. Any advice on diet or vitamins that would help me through this?

Yes, go low on carbohydrates. Do the 5-2 fasting and cut out the meat! I'd eat more fruits and veg...

Hey Mr. Helleday, thanks for doing this. What are your thoughts on so called fringe theories that discuss Marijuana as a potential cure and has any serious research been done into this?

Marijuana can milden the symptoms (pain) associated with cancer in a similar way we use morphine in the clinic today. Unfortunately, it isn't more cure than cigarette smoking....

Hello Mr. Helleday

Where does your idea for the MTH1 comes from?

Also do you think the studies of stemcells will be more prevalent, when it comes to treatments in the future?

The last couple of years I've noticed a increase in the study of stemcells, particularly for the regrowth of brain tissue, so I'm curious what someone in the field think of this. Thank you and your work is fascinating.

I got the idea of MTH1 after talking with Tomas Lindahl, this years Nobel laurate in Chemistry. He told me unpaired bases are more vunerable than paired and then I thought MTH1 would be important. Sem cells are important and we have studied how cancer stem cells respond to MTH1 inhibitors - luckily they do! Similarly, we don't see that hematopoetic stem cells are affected by the treatments whih is comforting, but the evidence is when we have large co-horts of patients data...

How long until your tests provide you with patients data? Also once you have that data, what timeframe do you see this treatment becoming a viable solution to the current cancer problem, providing it is successful in vivo?

edit: Your team is doing a great job!

We test in patients next year and then it will likely take about 4 years Before approval if it works - we do this 'open innovation' so we need Charity to help us get it to patients...

I must ask, but have you and your people done any work on genetically modified viruses that help the immune system to kill off cancer?

We haven't and I think this is a difficult strategy... The best way (and very modern) is to take T-cells from patients and then modify them in the lab to be more aggressive (using viruses) and then reintroduce them to kill the cancer - this actually works!

Why do you think the synthetic lethality strategy of using PARP inhibitors + something else wasn't as successful as we had hoped it would be?

Actually, it was more successful than I though... The key question is why there hasn't been much else - new synthetic lethal interactions that we've been able to exploit - this is the big Disappointment...

Hi Mr Helleday, thank you so much for doing this AMA.

I am currently waiting for news regarding my application for PhD programs in cancer research. I can't wait to start learning more and dig deeper into cancer diseases and I have been looking for books that could help me understand more about cancer diseases,

do you have any recommendations of these books?

is there any other ways I could do to help me prepare myself for a more focused research of cancer?

Thank you!

Robert Weinberg's book 'Cancer' is the one I give to my PhD students to read when they arrive - keep up the good work! We really need new Bright Young people going into cancer research!

Hi Helleday Lab! I am an undergraduate university student who is currently working on cancer research targeting a non-essential mitotic protein. I've worked with 4 different cancer cell lines now and noticed that none of them respond the same to treatment (protein knockdown with siRNAs + radiation). My question is this- how do you propose that this treatment will work on all cancer types, considering how different they can be at a molecular level?

Agree, in 99.9% of cases, the targeted treatments work for just a co-hort of cells/patients. However, the MTH1 causes DNA damage similar to ionizing radiation, which works for.... all cancer...

This may just be sci fi thinking... But I've heard aging in humans described as making a copy of a copy of a copy, eventually you end up with a damaged cell that doesn't resemble the original. And then there is cancer, which is also imperfect replication in a way. Is making cells reproduce perfectly an end goal of cancer research and would that have ramifications for aging in humans?

Ageing is caused (in my view) by accumulation of damage to macormolecules in cells - hard to do much about. Cancer is caused by DNA lesions converting into mutations. Actually two different processes.

I read something about a diet and lifestyle that can prevent and actually cure cancer? How true is this?? Can cancer really be cured without any real medial attention?

Diet and Lifestyle is critically important. 70% of all cancers can be avioded by Life style Changes and diet can improve survival (but not cure spread disease).

What kind of diet and lifestyle changes would you recommend?

Nobel Laureate Tomas Lindahl and I talked about this. You can find the link here: https://youtu.be/_fE71tbI0Wc?t=353

If you want to watch the whole thing then follow this link:https://youtu.be/_fE71tbI0Wc

Since cancer treatment and medicine is a billion dollar industry, aren't you worried that if you find a real cure you will be stopped somehow?

There is a bit of worry... But since we do this in public domain is does rely on me... If I go away it will get there anyhow.

I recently read "The Emperor of all Maladies" by Mukherjee, which was a fascinating look into the epidemiology of cancer. Have you read this yet? If so, what did you think? And is there anything you would have added to it? Thanks for doing this AMA!

It is a great book.... All treatments need a champion to make it happen... In big pharma, everyone is content and no one want to work day-and-night for novel treatments... why would they - they are not getting the benefit from what they find...

Just curious, how long do you think/guesstimate it will take for your research/findings to affect the common person, if at all? Do you think Big pharma squashes reasonable cures in favor for money/deals with companies? How about just Cancer research in general? I know a lot of people feel that the cure for cancer is already out there but companies buy/threaten patent holders and such to hide it so they can get more money. In the USA at least hospitals are treated like businesses, and i don't' agree 100% with that practice.

The cure is not out there, but indeed, many really promising strategies are killed because of business reasons... Today it COSTs $2billion to take a drug to market. We'll do it open innovation and for less than $50million. With our strategy many more new treatments can be tested and out on market. This is not in the interest of big pharma as they do not want to see competition... hey want to keep the bar high so people like me can't reach approval...

My mother died from cancer. It was horrible to witness and something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Why can't we cure diseases like this after so much time and so many millions (maybe billions?) of dollars invested/donated etc?

So many people say there's a cure, but you don't make money curing people. What's your feelings on this?

There isn't a cure. What we need to do now is to work more together in open innovation rather than doing secret experiments. Everyone is approacing this model so we are going to a better World!

HI, I am a current patience into my maintenance treatment for ALL. I finish maintenance in June. My Question is, How do doctors know that 2, 3 or how ever many years is the right amount of time to be on treatment for. Especially when there is no actual definitive way to know if your disease is gone?

There is no definitive answer, but experience tell us that many ALL patients are cured from their disease and there is no need for lifelong treatments (most patients are Young - maybe you as well?).

Just wanted to say thank you! Its people like you who have allowed me to become cancer free. One quick question, would these solutions to cancer you speak of referring to the snapping of DNA cause any side effects like normal chemotherapy does?

No the treatments we come up with have mild side effects and can be taken for a long period of time....

Thank you so much for all of your questions!

I will take a break soon. I'll get back to the questions I didn't have the time to answer at a later date.

How is your lab funded? Do you get any of the money that cancer charities collect?

We do get money from several charities. the most reliable way of giving us money directly is by donation to our foundation: http://www.helledayfoundation.org

is there a theoretical end-point to science?

Science is end-less - we will never know Everything!

Do you worry that if you cure cancer that the world would become over populated?

No, we will die from aging...

Also, in a healthier World people will give birth to fewer Children - we should make poverty history and then we have solved population issue.

How useful are projects like World Community Grid and Folding@Home to cancer research really?

Those are great and we need to work more on open innovation and croudsourcing!!!

What is your take on a vegan diet preventing many types of cancer or curing cancer by not giving cancer cells something to feed off?

Cancer feed on glucose and it is difficult to be without - body also makes it for the brain... Vegan diet is good - meat is known to cause cancer and should be avioded... If eating a lot of greens - try avoiding those with pesticides (natural or artificial).

Here's my questions. I would LOVE an answer because I really want to help. How much money, in donations, do you think it would take to cure even just one type of cancer? It has been a dream of mine to be able to save up and donate a huge amount of money that would change the world in a positive way. I've been thinking about donating that to cancer research. Thank you for all the work that you do.

It is a question of hitting the right sopt - it can be dirt cheap or you can spend trillions if you're looking in the wrong directions. I thikn working together and using the Money more wisely we actually can do with what we have... The World don'tlisten to me though...

Is it really possible to have a cancer free world in the future? Or a cure for all cancers?

We can prevent more cancers than we Think and we should do so - there will not be a cure for all cancers, but hopefully we can make the disease chronic - like diabetes.

How did you go about getting a lab named after you? You set it up yourself? How does one do that?

When you become a principle investigator the lab name is automatically your name - this is the case for everyone... Wasn't my choice...

Hi all - I am off now - thanks for the chat today! Keep up the spirit - we do! Mery Christmas to all! /Thomas

Does anyone in your lab have cancer, and was it their main reason for becoming a cancer scientist?

All of us has some relation to cancer - parents died from cancer etc!

Hey thanks for doing this AMA, I've just had someone close to me die of pancreatic cancer that spread everywhere at the young age of 30. It's been troubling me that it can happen to anyone at any age and what if I get it at the age of 30 and leave behind a wife and kids? Are there are significant advancements in cancer research that can point to an estimation of how much more longer it will take to find "the cure" for cancer? Thanks

There is a revolution going on in cancer treatments - in lung cancer there has been nothing for decades, but in the last 2 years we've seen 5-7 new treatments coming - this is great! Similar for many other cancers!

Hi, Mr. Helleday.

So, do you believe in a complete cure of cancer in the next 50 years?

No, but most cancers (80%) will be made into chronic disease - this will happen already 15-20 years from now.

When I jumped into my PhD, there were a lot of people looking into hyperthermia to help with killing tumor cells. There were even a few German groups working with cats and dogs to cute tumour in their tail bones. How close or far are we to this? And do magnetic fields hyperthermia seem to have any scope?

People have used hyperthermia for quite a while and I Think the best possibility is to improve a combination therapy using hyerthermia and not a stand alone treatment - saying this I am not the expert on hyperthermia.

Premed major here. I'd love to work in cancer research. Any Advice?

Just do it!

I have a chronic high WBCC (12,000) and my Absolute Lymphocytes are above 5. My hema told me once my Absolute Lymphocytes reached a 5, it would be confirmed CLL. I sought a second opinion with a highly recommended oncologist and he told me I don't have CLL, apparently there's a specific test. I've found only conflicting info about CLL on line. Are you able to elaborate on CLL diagnosis at all? Thanks.

Not really, hematological malignancies comes in many different shape and form and are highly heterogeneous... you may have a rare form...

Is cancer a metabolic disease?

certainly, otto Warburg explained this in the 1920ies and it is still true!

Hi, thanks for doing the AMA! :)

What's your reaction when people say that there already is a cure for cancer, but governments want to keep income from treatment?

Well, radiotherapy and surgery is a cure for cancer in many cases. Chemotherapy is also curing cancer. We cannot save all patients... We and others invent new treatments... Governments want to keep COSTs for treatments low...

Hello, my mom recently had her polyps examined in uterus, for possible cancer, none were found in the polyps, but later reports show signs of early cancerous cells in the lining of the uterus, for urgent hysterectomy to follow in coming weeks.

she had a tumerous kidney removed 25 yrs ago , remission since then, until now, we still don't have full prognosis until the biopsies are done during the coming hysterectomy

she is also diabetic (sugars spike, though controlled), though lost considerable amt of weight in recent years (perhaps normal due to her age of 68, & she did have enough to spare), she still feels fine to this day.

what can I do to help my mom more, aside from being positive and accepting our fate in life? :)

diet, medicine?

what kind of cancer does she expect to have if it is contained and detected early, should she undertake traditional chemo, or the newer pill form?

thx for reading.

The best you can do is to be there for her and give her your time. Moral support and being a fellow human being is more important than we Think. Likely, you mom is cancer free following hysterectomy and the doctors decide if adjuvant therapy is needed (not sure - depend on pathology report). I would recommend you to see your mother not as a patient - but as your mother and love her for it and give her (and you) time...

Thank you for doing this AMA and especially for the work and research you do every day.

I'm just curious about your take on using intravenous Vitamin C to treat different types of cancer -- and specifically bladder cancer, which was cured in my fiancé's grandfather using this method, but unfortunately claimed the life of my father who tried to treat it using traditional chemotherapy.

So what is your opinion of the Vitamin C treatment method? Are there any other non-traditional or homeopathic treatment methods that you support?

Thanks again!

Linus Pauling was convinced vitamins would cure cancer and devoted a lot of effort on this during 40-60ties. He got the Nobel price twice (Peace prize once) althrough these experiments failed badly... I am sure someone is looking to see if there is anything he missed...

Hi Dr. Helleday, thanks for doing this AMA.

Just a quick question about cancer research in general. I've read that a lot of animal studies are difficult to transition into therapies for humans. Do you see 3D tissue printing as being an in-roads to dealing with the translation issue between findings in animals and treatments for humans? I may be asking a horribly naive question so, I'm sorry if this is off topic.

Thanks again for doing the AMA.

Yes, animal studies are not great - patient's derived material is better and this is what we use most of the time now...

My father has recently passed away from cancer. He was battling it for about a year. The thing is two years ago he calls me and tells me he thinks he has cancer again (he had it in his larynx when he was 30 and had radiation treatment to get rid of it). I advise him to talk to his doctor of course. His doctor brushed it off saying this feeling is from your trip to Nepal and gave him some antibiotics. Fast forward a year later he is beginning to feel weak and the doctor had some blood tests. He had a low blood cell count and had cancer for a year since my dad thought he had it. Was it difficult to find the cancer cells the first time around? Or was my dad's doctor an asshole for not taking him more seriously? Maybe he'd be alive today if he had discovered it when he believed he had it in the first place. I really hate my dad's doctor, he in fact is an ass hole I've had to talk to him.

It is not easy to be a doctor and referring everyone to test if it is cancer doesn't work. In my opinion, if you are worried, go to more than one doctor.

How do you keep a lab that large funded?

We have many different sponsorn as shown here: http://helleday.org/ Scroll down to get to our sponsors

What comes into your mind when people say that research cancer companies only seek for our money and don't do any research?

Big companies do a lot of research, but since it is not 'free thinking' research they fail to be innovative... Research is better done in academia!

Mr. Helleday, do you find it at all possible that cancer is caused because of the Brain?

Depression can influence immune system and hence make a cancer find a better environment to thrive. More research is needed...

I already wrote a Question in another thread, where I would fit more I guess (for ref. https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/3w7sbq/science_ama_series_im_guillermo_velasco_associate/cxu67lb?context=3 ).

How ever is there a way to help you other then with money? I have thyroidcancer with a high tumor marker and they cannot seem to find the rest of my cancer. Is there anything I could provide you with?

I Think participating in Clinical trials is a good Thing to do - also for you!

First off, thank you for doing the work you do. I have and have had many people in my life affected by various forms of cancer. So I am grateful that there are people like you fighting this fight and moving us collectively forward.

That said, how do you feel about the numerous organizations that try to pimp out "cancer awareness" as a fundraising tool? And how does any of that filter down to you, funding or otherwise?

On an unrelated note, what music do you listen to for enjoyment?

Money do filter down to us cancer researchers and it is great with all what is done to raise funding - we're 95% funded by private donations. I listen right now to christmas songs... otherwise I don't get much time off to listen to Music anymore - work all the time...

Hello! Is there any promising work on brain tumours? I know they're hard to treat due to the blood brain barrier but my mother recently passed from a glioblastoma multiforme after an 11 month illness and I know the prognosis is always incredibly poor with this kind of tumour.

There are many new treatments also for brain tumours, but the breakthrough hasn't been the same as in lung or melanoma - we still need that extra push for brain cancers!

I just finished reading "The Emperor of All Maladies" and was struck by how the book focuses nearly exclusively on work done over the past 100 years by researchers in the United States (with the notable exception of a significant fraud by a researcher in South Africa). Is this just a provincial bias on the part of the author, or have researchers in Europe and Japan really failed to keep up? Why?

European and Japanese scienstist got the Nobel prize this year... There is a lot of science going on and it is hard to cover what is going on everywhere...

It hurts my guts everytime I read or hear about people who discard conventional cancer medicine and choose the healing power of magical rocks and bath salts instead. Do you sometimes feel the urge to punch these ignorant people after a tough day of research?

No - we need to listen to them and find a way to communicate. If we push them away they are not getting the right care which in some cases actually can save their lives. So out of respect to their lives we need to reach to them - remember we need to understand Before being understood...

What are some of the most common misconceptions about Cancer?

One misconception about cancer is that it is bad luck - we can actually make a lot to prevent cancer and this is what we need to focus on in the future!

What is the affect of MTH1 inhibitors on healthy cells/animals? Surely even if oxidative stress is higher in tumor cells it still has some negative affect on health tissue/cells?

Everytime people hear about advances in cancer research they turn into discussions of treatments like they are magic bullets. Anyone who has gone through radiation and chemo therapy knows that those magic bullets still do damage to the rest of the body.

MTH1 gene can be knocked out in mice and they live to grow old. However, our inhibitors do have toxic effects at high doses, but we Believe we don't need those doses to kill cancer.

Hi Thomas!

First of all thanks for doing this. My mam was diagnosed with Pseduomyoxma Peritonei and unfortunately a trial treatment program had to be stopped (more here).

So anyway her treatment had to be stopped because of a 'nick' on her bowel, risking septicaemia.

Do you know anything else that could be done to prevent her death?

I am sorry to hear this... Often the criterias to enter a Clinical trial is very strict and for not very good reasons. Keeping the trials closer to the doctors will make a difference! Don't know what else there is for Pseduomyoxma Peritonei

You and your team are a true superheros... Literally. How can we make cancer treatment more affordable and sufficiently fund the cancer research at the same time ?

If we do it in the public domain it will be better - in Europe we can have hospitals not charge to do Clinical trials - this is great - US should follow!

What drove you to go in a direction different than other labs in regards to publicity and funding?

I noticed your website is designed to be very easy on the eyes as opposed to the majority of the biology labs, which rarely have a website of their own and usually rely on the faculty pages of their universities.

What do you think about the availability of the funding schemes in Sweden/EU in the biological sciences? Is it preferable to get funding from sponsors/individuals rather than writing long grant proposals?

99% of funding in my lab comes from long grant proposals - no real alternative today, but we want to be more modern...

Kind of a dump question: do you see your work as a part or step in a big picture or do you think you can cure it someday all with your work? And if not, how do you motivate you and your team every day?

We are just a part of a big collaboration on getting new treatments to patients - the final attack will be a combination of work that are done across the planet!

What do you think about telomerase being used against cancer?

Telomerase is activated in some cancers to be able to indefinately grow. There are telomerase inhibitors tested in Clinical trials and I Think this is an exciting treatment option! Potentially there are combinations that are going to be most beneficial!

Thanks for doing this AMA! Is there a little-understoond yet important thing you think more people should know?

We can prevent cancer by changing our Life style!

Hi Dr. Thomas Helleday,

First of all, thank you for all your efforts and work.

I'm a med student from Oporto. Manuel Sobrinho Simões is a well known professor here for all his work in the cancer field. Is he well known internationally aswell?

Unfortunately, I've lost two grandparents to pancreatic cancer. Do you think we'll see any survival rate increase for this type of cancer in the near future?

Once again, thank you and keep up the great work!

Pancreas cancer survival will go up soon - it is a difficult one, but a lot of progress is done!

Wouldn't only an EVIL person try to preserve the genetic line of (dependent on your VERY expensive life) people who get cancers? You get RICH at EVERYONE ELSE'S expense even those that do NOT get cancer. People who do NOT get cancers (don't NEED you) should NOT be penalized for your existence. To us, you are a demon. A scourge, a parasitic enabling/nurturing liability. You don't care do you? Demons are like that. You are like a cancer of the healthy independent people who owe you nothing, ESPECIALLY not thanks.

What's up with that? You like being a robber? That lies and tells people he's a savior? Do you know Satan personally?

The drive for our lab is to keep our close friends and families alive and also to help other people on the planet stay alive... Maybe mankind is a plague to the planet?

Dude. Scientists*

Let's*

How do you not know this? Seriously.

If you can't handle 3rd grade English, how can you expect people to trust you with more complicated matters?

We are not perfect - I bet my Swedish is better than yours... Shall we take this dicussion in Swedish of French - what other languages do you master?

No. You are not leading a lab of 70 scientist.

You are leading a lab of 70 scientists.

How are you able to be a cancer researcher when do you not know the difference between singular and plural nouns?

This is difficult for a Swede, as we don't have them...