Agent Smith Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 I recall reading about the history of medicine and one interesting topic is the concept of The Magic Bullet which is basically a drug that zeroes in on the putative cause of an illness (bug/cancer/etc.), avoiding all healthy tissue, and takes them out in a manner of speaking. Such an idea has been worked on with considerable progress made in the military: precision munitions, heat-seeking and guided missiles, tactical nuclear weapons, and so on. The objective is the same in both medicine and weaponry: a sniper rifle instead of a machine gun. However, more ground has been covered in arms than in drugs. Is there an opportunity for comparing/sharing notes between killing (the military) and saving (medicine)? The magic bullet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 4 hours ago, Agent Smith said: I recall reading about the history of medicine and one interesting topic is the concept of The Magic Bullet which is basically a drug that zeroes in on the putative cause of an illness (bug/cancer/etc.), avoiding all healthy tissue, and takes them out in a manner of speaking. Such an idea has been worked on with considerable progress made in the military: precision munitions, heat-seeking and guided missiles, tactical nuclear weapons, and so on. The objective is the same in both medicine and weaponry: a sniper rifle instead of a machine gun. However, more ground has been covered in arms than in drugs. Is there an opportunity for comparing/sharing notes between killing (the military) and saving (medicine)? The magic bullet! Generally not, I would have thought. The technologies involved are so different. But I seem to recall reading there are therapies that can "mark" a tissue for destruction, by an agent that is introduced subsequently and which acts selectively on the tissue that has been marked. This could be considered, superficially at least, a bit like the illumination of a military target by a laser. Maybe someone with medical knowledge can comment on whether my recollection has any basis in fact. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 While I would hesitate to call a nuclear weapon a precision instrument, there are treatments in medicine that you can describe as precise. Proton therapy, for example. You send a beam of protons at a tumor, and tune the energy so that the protons will deposit the bulk of their energy in the tumor rather than the healthy tissue, so you disrupt the tumor. (They have a proton therapy center at TRIUMF, where I did a postdoc) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilGeis Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 (edited) Perhaps antibody therapy for relevant cancers https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22437872/ and https://www.criver.com/eureka/magic-bullets-the-next-evolution-in-targeted-cancer-therapy and the term has meaning in the history of micrpbiology https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/syphilis-cure-magic-bullet-180964644/ Edited March 19, 2022 by PhilGeis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MigL Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Even vaccines work that way. They provide a blueprint ( or a map, if you like the GPS guided bomb analogy ), so that you body's own defenses can target the specific intrusive virus, with antibodies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilGeis Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 20 hours ago, MigL said: Even vaccines work that way. They provide a blueprint ( or a map, if you like the GPS guided bomb analogy ), so that you body's own defenses can target the specific intrusive virus, with antibodies. Good point. And the mRNA-based vaccines ever more of a focused magic bullet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent Smith Posted November 24, 2022 Author Share Posted November 24, 2022 On 3/18/2022 at 4:28 PM, exchemist said: Generally not, I would have thought. The technologies involved are so different. But I seem to recall reading there are therapies that can "mark" a tissue for destruction, by an agent that is introduced subsequently and which acts selectively on the tissue that has been marked. This could be considered, superficially at least, a bit like the illumination of a military target by a laser. Maybe someone with medical knowledge can comment on whether my recollection has any basis in fact. Interesting! Gracias. On 3/18/2022 at 4:38 PM, swansont said: While I would hesitate to call a nuclear weapon a precision instrument, there are treatments in medicine that you can describe as precise. Proton therapy, for example. You send a beam of protons at a tumor, and tune the energy so that the protons will deposit the bulk of their energy in the tumor rather than the healthy tissue, so you disrupt the tumor. (They have a proton therapy center at TRIUMF, where I did a postdoc) This is also interesting! Merci. On 3/19/2022 at 9:57 PM, PhilGeis said: Perhaps antibody therapy for relevant cancers https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22437872/ and https://www.criver.com/eureka/magic-bullets-the-next-evolution-in-targeted-cancer-therapy and the term has meaning in the history of micrpbiology https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/syphilis-cure-magic-bullet-180964644/ Antibodies, are they the most specific antmicrobials in the body's arsenal? Arigato. On 3/20/2022 at 1:08 AM, MigL said: Even vaccines work that way. They provide a blueprint ( or a map, if you like the GPS guided bomb analogy ), so that you body's own defenses can target the specific intrusive virus, with antibodies. Vaccines, last I checked, work their magic via antibodies . To All The body's natural defenses are what we should be working on but that's not to say if a magic bullet can be found we shouldn't use it, oui mes amies? Before I forget, thanks to all contributors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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