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Faustman's new lab web page contains the following quote:
In research published in 2001 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and in 2003 in Science,
Dr. Faustman and colleagues used a brief, non-toxic treatment to induce
TNF-a in end-stage diabetic mice and permanently eliminate their
disease.
(from http://www.faustmanlab.org/research/research.html)
But this is an obvious mistake: Faustman's treatment described in the paper uses CFA, which is highly toxic to people and animals.(from http://www.faustmanlab.org/research/research.html)
Take a look at the 2001 paper. The abstract clearly says:
Hyperglycemic NOD mice were treated with CFA to induce TNF-á expression
and were exposed to functional complexes of MHC class I molecules and
antigenic peptides either by repeated injection of MHC class I matched
splenocytes or by transplantation of islets from nonautoimmune donors.
(from http://www.jci.org/articles/view/12335)
And CFA (Complete Freud's Adjuvant) is well known to be toxic. So toxic that it can not be used in people at all, and is discouraged even in animals, as show here:(from http://www.jci.org/articles/view/12335)
(CFA) is quite toxic and cannot be used in humans.
(from http://books.google.com/books?id=TFoIXMe-UEEC&pg=PA403&lpg=PA403&dq=complete+Freund%27s+adjuvant+CFA+safety&source=web&ots=dYXKq2PcQ-&sig=zrlavn3Lmahle2DArr02aE1_Ib8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result)
and also(from http://books.google.com/books?id=TFoIXMe-UEEC&pg=PA403&lpg=PA403&dq=complete+Freund%27s+adjuvant+CFA+safety&source=web&ots=dYXKq2PcQ-&sig=zrlavn3Lmahle2DArr02aE1_Ib8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result)
The undesirable side effects attributed to CFA use include increased pain and suffering and morbidity in inoculated test animals
(from http://www.vcu.edu/oehs/chemical/biosafe/CFAinfo.pdf)
and here:(from http://www.vcu.edu/oehs/chemical/biosafe/CFAinfo.pdf)
The
best example of this is complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). While it
remains the gold standard in terms of adjuvant potency, its extreme
reactogenicity and toxicity precludes its use in human vaccines, and
there have been discussions of banning CFA even in veterinary vaccines.
(from http://biopharminternational.findpharma.com/biopharm/Downstream+Processing/New-Age-Vaccine-Adjuvants-Friend-or-Foe/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/444996)
So it sounds like the description of Faustman's treatment as "non-toxic', as is done in her lab's web site, is a mistake. The experiment used CFA, which is toxic. Or is there something I'm missing? Does someone know why Faustman's web page refers to this treatment as non-toxic? Is there something about her formulation or dosing that makes it safe? (This question has nothing to do with the safety of Faustman's current clincial trial, because that trial uses BCG. From a safety point of view, BCG and CFA are quite different.)(from http://biopharminternational.findpharma.com/biopharm/Downstream+Processing/New-Age-Vaccine-Adjuvants-Friend-or-Foe/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/444996)
Joshua Levy
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