Why Do Some Cancers Cure Themselves?

Scientific concepts, discoveries, and nature/biomedical phenomena

Body tissue repair vs. cancer

• Normal injuries and many infections resolve through the body’s repair and clearance systems.
• Cancer is typically not self-curing:
  • Without treatment, it can grow and metastasize.
  • This progression can eventually lead to death.

Spontaneous remission

• A rare phenomenon in which tumors shrink or disappear without direct cancer treatment.
• Estimated rarity (as cited): about 1 in 60,000 cancer patients.
• When remission occurs, it can be temporary:
  • Relapse may happen within months or years.

Historical evidence for spontaneous remission

• Ebers papyrus (c. 1550 BCE): earliest mention of cancer “vanishing.”
• Peregrine Laziosi (13th century, Italian priest):
  • Reported disappearance of a leg tumor before amputation.
  • Later became a symbolic “patron saint” figure for cancer patients.
• Arsène-Hippolyte Vautier (1813):
  • Reports that tumors in cancer patients with gangrene sometimes shrank.
• Additional 19th–20th century physician reports describe recoveries following other illnesses.

Trends in which cancers remit

Some cancers appear more prone to spontaneous remission, including:

• Neuroblastoma (pediatric nerve cancer; mostly under age 5)
• Kidney cancer
• Metastatic skin cancer
• Leukemia

Limitations in documentation are emphasized. Example:

• Late-stage skin cancer had only 76 well-documented cases as of 2013,
  • spanning reports from 1866 onward.

Infection/immune response hypotheses

• Observation: some people with spontaneous remission have also experienced infections (viral or bacterial).
• Example cited: 14 cases of spontaneous remission linked to COVID-19 (2023).
• Proposed mechanism: immune system activation
  • Cancer treatments can release tumor antigens.
  • Immune cells recognize tumor antigens and attack cancer cells.

Caution: Intentionally seeking infection (e.g., COVID) is unsafe because cancer patients can have a higher mortality risk from COVID.

Vaccination anecdotes (supportive, not proof)

Presented as repeated observations suggesting an immune/antigen linkage (but not establishing causality):

• Smallpox vaccine (1978):
  • A leukemia patient reportedly entered total remission.
• Tdap vaccine (more recent case):
  • A skin cancer patient reportedly recovered after vaccination.

Non-infection triggers

Spontaneous remission can occur after:

• Biopsies or routine screening

Hypothesis:

• These procedures may disrupt tumor blood supply—described metaphorically as starving tumors of blood, since tumors “need a lot of blood.”

Microbial therapy / bacterial mechanisms (historical therapeutic approach)

• Coley’s Toxin (William Coley, 1890):
  • Injection of inactivated bacteria for inoperable skin and bone cancers.
  • Reported outcomes (as cited):
    • ~52% remission for five years
    • ~20% alive after 20 years
  • Used until 1963, then declined due to skepticism and unknown mechanism.

Modern virotherapy concept

• T-VEC:
  • FDA-approved therapy using a modified virus intended to destroy cancer cells.
  • The subtitles note uncertainty:
    • The company indicates they don’t fully know how the virus produces the effect.

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Listed methodology / line of reasoning (as presented)

• Evidence accumulation
  • Compile historical and modern case reports of tumor shrinkage without treatment
  • Track rarity and variability across cancer types
• Identify possible triggers
  • Infections (viral/bacterial exposure)
  • Vaccination events (as analogous immune stimulation)
  • Medical procedures (biopsy/screening) that may alter tumor access to blood
• Generate hypotheses
  • Immune recognition of tumor antigens
  • Reduced tumor vascular supply after procedures
  • Possible genetic/biological factors (mentioned as potential, but not treated as settled)

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Researchers / sources featured (as named in subtitles)

• Harry Plumley (SciShow Patreon supporter)
• Charlie Stanley (SciShow Patreon supporter)
• TJ Steyn (SciShow Patreon supporter)
• Imhotep / Imhotepno (Egyptian physician name as stated in subtitles; associated with early incision/infection idea)
• William Coley
• Peregrine Laziosi
• Arsène-Hippolyte Vautier
• FDA (regulatory body referenced regarding T-VEC approval)
• SciShow (channel/source; referenced as production context, not a single researcher)

Note: Some other items (e.g., “a study from Denmark,” “doctors reported 14 cases,” and “another more recent case”) are mentioned without naming specific investigators or journals in the provided subtitles.