Background of Drug that can cure Cancer

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The ongoing war with cancer that millions of people struggle against every day may be coming to an end very shortly. 

Researchers may have found a drug that has killed every kind of cancer tumor it has come into contact with.  This drug is so special because it blocks a protein called CD47 that basically completely destroys the body’s immune system.  Even though the protein is produced in healthy blood cells, researchers have found out that cancer cells produce an unreasonable amount of this protein that ultimately tricks the immune system into not destroying harmful cells. Knowing this information, researchers built an antibody that blocks CD47 so that the body’s immune system can continue to attack dangerous cells. However, researchers have not tested this new antibody on an actual human yet. Stanford University have distributed this dream drug on mice with human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate tumors transplanted into them. Each outcome has been positive; the antibody forced the mice’s immune system to kill the cancer cells. Scientists’ at Weissman of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California have showed that “even after the tumor has taken hold, the antibody can either cure the tumor or slow its growth and prevent metastasis.” This drug is the future of science and medicine; it can save millions of lives. The only side effect found for the treatment so far was that healthy cells were subjected to short-term attacks by the mice’s immune system. However, this small effect is nothing compared to the damage done to the cancer cells. Researchers have received a grant of $20 million to move there testing from mice to humans. This drug makes you wonder what the future can bring.

Expert questions

Will there be any drastic differences on the outcome of testing this drug on humans instead of mice? If so, what kind of differences? Positive? Negative?

Is Stanford University the only medical school testing this drug? Is this a well-known outbreak in the medical world?