An Alien Life Form in the Host Body: Understanding Cancer with Jo Bhakdi

Cancerous tumors have their own microbiome, a unique method of energy production, strategies for evading host immune systems, specialized extracellular vesicles, and one real goal: to expand and replicate at the expense of the environment. Press play to discover:

• What major transformation in tumor detection and diagnosis is on the horizon and holds promise for very early and accurate cancer detection (and why the current methods of screening/detection/diagnosis are so bad)
• What specific ability allows cancer to kill its host
• Why the theory behind chemotherapy is wrong, and how it actually puts accelerated selection pressure on tumors

Returning guest, Jo Bhakdi, is the founder of Quantgene, the world's leader in liquid biopsy technologies when it comes to precision. It's a technology that uses next-generation genome sequencing in combination with AI and cloud systems to detect cancer in the early stages in the blood. The team at Quantgene has pioneered the ability to have single-molecule precision across a very high number of locations on DNA. This core sequencing technology is being embedded in advanced AI cloud systems that also have whole exome sequencing data. Together with genetics, medical records, and family history data, these technologies render a 360-degree precision profile for each patient. In essence, it's a giant, sensitive detection tool for cancer, and it holds promise for fulfilling the same role for other diseases.

Bhakdi discusses all aspects of cancer, including how it spreads, how it's acted upon epigenetically, and the potential of certain therapies. In particular, he says, "One of the greatest breakthroughs in my opinion, that is not fully exploited yet, is immunotherapy, because every time you have something very complex…you need another system that's equally complex and capable to indirectly handle it."

He talks about the indirect screening trade-offs of liquid biopsies, the general problem of over-diagnosing, the relationship between the heterogeneity of tumors and mutation profiles, and more.

Learn more at https://www.quantgene.com/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK