Dr Doris Day

Dermatologist. Journalist. Author. Growing old is a privilege, aging is optional. I help you look your best at every age #olderisbetter
#bestDAYever

[Afshine Emrani MD FACC @afshineemrani]

I'm a cardiologist. For months I've been telling you that inflammation is the fire behind heart disease — not just cholesterol. That we've been treating the smoke while the fire kept burning.

Penn Medicine just built the fire extinguisher.

They took the most powerful immune technology in cancer medicine — CAR T-cell therapy — and flipped it. Instead of engineering killer cells to destroy tumors, they engineered regulatory T cells to suppress the chronic arterial inflammation that causes heart attacks.
Published in Circulation. The results stopped me cold.
In CAR T cancer therapy, doctors extract your T cells, genetically engineer them to recognize a specific target, and infuse them back into your body as precision-guided missiles. It has cured previously terminal blood cancers. The technology won its developers a Nobel Prize.

The Penn team asked a question no one had asked before: what if we aimed this at the arteries?
They engineered regulatory T cells — Tregs, the immune cells whose job is to calm inflammation rather than cause it — to specifically target oxidized LDL. OxLDL is the molecule that starts the entire atherosclerotic cascade. It infiltrates your artery wall, triggers macrophages to gorge on it and become foam cells, releases inflammatory cytokines, recruits more immune cells, and builds the plaque that eventually ruptures and causes a heart attack.

OxLDL is the match that lights the fire. These engineered CAR Tregs are designed to find that match and snuff it out — at the arterial wall itself.

The results in mouse models of atherosclerosis:
Blocked macrophage foam cell formation — the cellular process that builds plaque. Dramatically reduced arterial wall inflammation. Prevented over 70% of plaque buildup compared to untreated controls. And critically — preserved normal immune function everywhere else.

That last point is essential. Previous anti-inflammatory approaches to atherosclerosis failed because they suppressed the entire immune system — leaving patients vulnerable to infections and other complications. Colchicine works modestly. Canakinumab in the CANTOS trial reduced events but increased fatal infections. The immune system is a sledgehammer. You can't just turn it down globally.
CAR Tregs solve this by being targeted. They don't suppress your whole immune system. They patrol your arteries specifically, calming the inflammation at the exact site where it's causing damage — and leaving the rest of your immunity intact.

One infusion. Targeted. Precise. The cells do the work.
Lead author Robert Schwab of Penn Medicine put it directly: "If we can get the immune system to see OxLDL and provoke an anti-inflammatory response, it would reduce inflammation and essentially stop the pathogenesis in its tracks."

Senior author Avery Posey: "Our study shows for the first time how CAR T cell technology could be used to treat the underlying cause of the most common form of heart disease — the leading cause of death worldwide."
As a cardiologist who has spent twenty years treating the downstream consequences of arterial inflammation — the stents, the bypasses, the cardiac rehab, the second heart attacks — I need you to understand what this represents.

Every treatment I currently have manages the damage after the fire has burned. Statins lower the fuel supply. Blood pressure meds reduce the mechanical stress. Stents prop open arteries that have already narrowed. These save lives. I use them daily.
But none of them put out the fire itself.
CAR Tregs are engineered to extinguish the inflammation at its source — inside the artery wall — before the plaque builds, before the vessel narrows, before the rupture, before the heart attack.
This is the shift from managing disease to correcting the biological process that causes it. At the cellular level. With living medicine.

This was demonstrated in mice, not humans. The leap from mouse models to human cardiovascular trials is enormous and filled with failures. Manufacturing CAR T cells is currently expensive — roughly $400,000 per treatment in cancer. Scaling this for a disease that affects billions would require a manufacturing revolution. Long-term safety of engineered immune cells patrolling human arteries for years or decades is completely unknown. Human trials are likely years away.
But 70% plaque reduction. With preserved immune function. Targeting the exact inflammatory mechanism I've been writing about for months. Published in Circulation — the flagship journal of the American Heart Association.
The trajectory is unmistakable.
Gene editing to permanently lower cholesterol. Personalized mRNA vaccines to hunt cancer. GLP-1 drugs rewiring metabolism. Cellular reprogramming to reverse aging. And now — living immune cells engineered to extinguish the inflammation that causes the number one killer on earth.
Every one of these treats the root cause instead of managing the downstream damage. Every one of them was impossible a decade ago. Every one of them is in trials or approaching trials right now.
I've held dying hearts in my hands in the cath lab at 3 AM. Hearts that were destroyed by inflammation I could see but couldn't stop.
The day I can infuse a patient with cells engineered to stop that inflammation before it ever builds the plaque — that's the day cardiology changes forever.
We're not there yet. But the fire extinguisher just passed its first test.

[James Peyer @JamesPeyer]

https://t.co/asTGclFl1D

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

@CambrianBio @JamesPeyer Congratulations!

[peptidedaily @peptidedaily_]

I'm tired of repeating the same thing, but fuck it.

You deserve the truth.

A peptide is just a small protein.

If it's less than 50 amino acids, it's called a peptide.

More than 50, it's a protein.

When you eat a steak, your body breaks it down from protein to peptide to amino acid.

You've been on peptides your entire life without thinking about it.

Insulin is a peptide.

It's been around for 100 years and nobody panics when a diabetic takes it.

The moment you call something a "peptide" though, people picture injections and steroids and think it's some underground experimental drug.

The peptides people are talking about online are specific amino acid sequences that target things like recovery, sleep, fat loss, gut health, skin, and cognition.

There are over 300,000 peptides in your body right now doing different jobs.

Now, should you take them?

Depends on where you are.

If your sleep, diet, training, and stress management are a mess, peptides aren't going to save you.

They're the icing on the cake, and you need to build the cake first.

But if your foundation is solid and you want to push further, they're one of the most interesting tools available right now.

For educational purposes only. Not medical advice or endorsement of human use.

[Yehuda Teitelbaum @chalavyishmael]

The Yevsektsiya were Jews. They blamed Zionists and traditional Jews for alienating Soviet society. They believed that if Jews abandoned religion, nationalism, and every trait the regime found objectionable, Communism would reward them with acceptance.

They helped shut down synagogues, persecuted Hebrew teachers, and denounced fellow Jews as enemies of progress. When they were no longer useful, the Soviet state disbanded the Yevsektsiya. Many of its members were executed during Stalin's purges. Others disappeared into labor camps. Their loyalty bought them nothing.

The Antizionist League of Iraq was made up of Jews as well. Its members insisted that Zionism was the source of hostility toward Iraqi Jews. They argued that if Jews publicly rejected the idea of a Jewish state, suspicion and hatred would disappear. They were wrong. The League itself was dissolved and its leaders imprisoned. The Farhud left hundreds of Jews dead, Jewish homes and businesses were looted and destroyed, and over the following years an ancient community was driven into exile. Nobody stopped to ask whether their victims were Zionists before burning their homes or stabbing them in the streets.

A century ago, Baghdad had one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Jews made up roughly a quarter of the city's population. Today there are fewer than ten Jews left in all of Iraq. Trying to prove that you are one of the "good Jews" has never altered the outcome.

German Jews were among the most assimilated Jews in the world. They were educated, patriotic, and deeply proud of being German. Many of them fought proudly in WWI. They often looked down on poorer Jews arriving from Eastern Europe. Some convinced themselves that antisemitism was directed only at those less refined than themselves. Even the Association of German National Jews sought accommodation with the Nazi movement and declared its opposition to Zionism. The Nazis outlawed the organization anyway. Its members were deported and murdered alongside the rest of European Jewry.

Today there are fewer Jews in all of Europe than there are Arab citizens of Israel. So much for Europe lecturing Israel about tolerance.

Once a society begins stigmatizing Jews, or even just one category of Jews, the writing is already on the wall. Assimilation has never provided lasting protection. Appeasement has never provided lasting protection. Explaining ourselves politely and hoping to be accepted as the "good ones" has never provided lasting protection.

We are living through a dangerous moment. The United States, and perhaps Argentina, remain among the few places where Jews are not broadly stigmatized. But even that cannot be taken for granted. A 2023 Harvard-Harris poll found that two thirds of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 agreed that "Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors." Those young people will shape the future of public opinion.

We have no choice but to speak plainly about antizionism.

Because if antizionism were merely opposition to Netanyahu, it would not predate Netanyahu. If it were merely opposition to Israeli policy, it would not predate Israel. Long before 1948, Jews were being massacred for refusing to accept their place as a tolerated minority.

The uncomfortable truth is that antizionism did not emerge in response to Jewish power. It emerged in response to the idea that Jews should possess power at all.

Kind explanations did not save the Jews of Baghdad. Compliance did not save the Jews of Germany. Revolutionary zeal did not save the Jews of the Soviet Union.

Clarity matters. Memory matters. And the refusal to lie about what we are facing matters most of all.

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

Gone too soon. Hoping to help make a difference: The Kyra Fund https://t.co/PEIlT5MhIu https://t.co/1mbUjj5LtG

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

During the Iranian Revolution, leftist students, communists, and Muslims were all united in overthrowing the Shah.

The leftists celebrated when Khomeini returned in 1979. They thought they defeated capitalism and imperialism. It didn’t last long.

Around 30,000 leftists who helped the Islamic regime consolidate power were soon executed. That’s where the term “useful idiot” comes from.

They served their purpose and were no longer needed. Muslims had always despised their progressive ideals and couldn’t wait to get rid of them.

One of the women celebrating in the picture was killed, the other fled the country for her life.

It’s bizarre that almost 50 years later, Western leftists are making the exact same mistake and allying with Muslims. They will have the same fate.

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

@DavidPSamson May her memory be a blessing.

[Longevity Technology @LongevityTech]

Series A funding will expand Re-Q and advance a pipeline built on mTOR biology as longevity science seeks commercial traction.

https://t.co/yv8uSDjNLC

#longevity #geroscience #mtor #biotech #innovation

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

Exciting news for longevity skincare: https://t.co/TzL6LgZDuX

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

What Collagen Supplements Can Really Do for your Skin and Joints: https://t.co/g9R40k3bWU

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

This is big news!
Brent Saunders' latest dermatology bet gets $20M for skin longevity - https://t.co/duQUVMo3ap

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

This is how you kill people. Sunscreen use, of course is not the whole story. You need to be sun smart. The idea that sunscreen alone is the culprit is ridiculous.
That means- avoid sunburns, avoid excessive exposure, avoid tanning beds, minimize midday exposure, use sun protective clothing and sunscreen, and reapply regularly. Also, eat a high antioxidant diet.

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

For decades, sunscreen sales have soared. So have skin cancer rates. Author @RowanJacobsen tells @EconTalker why that suggests there's more to skin cancer than sun exposure alone.

Watch the full conversation here: https://t.co/QeMUuDaOKs

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

Skin-Longevity and the power of RLX-201, a selective TORQ1 inhibitor. https://t.co/LW2LK0icd4

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

Preventing Hair Loss Before It Starts: The New Science of Hair Health & ... https://t.co/PCp2dsdq6z via @YouTube

[Vinay Prasad MD MPH @VPrasadMDMPH]

Shingles vaccine(s) and dementia: the only medical intervention to work faster than Tums
Do you believe in magic? (link below)

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

https://t.co/26v94An1h1

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

@WillCainShow @KhosroIsfahani Excellent interview!

[Dr Doris Day @DrDorisDay]

This is great! We regularly use a form of this treatment- photodynamic therapy- to treat skin precancers and some early skin cancers as well. Hoping it will also work for other cancers

[Night Sky Today @NightSkyToday]

🚨: U.S. scientists develop light based method, that eliminates cancer cells with 99% success without drugs or chemotherapy, it only uses infrared light.

This technology works by targeting cancer cells with specific wavelengths of light.

Scientists design light sensitive compounds that attach to harmful cells, and when activated, the light triggers a reaction that breaks them down without harming nearby healthy tissue.

Unlike traditional treatments, this approach reduces side effects and focuses only on the affected area.

It represents a major step forward in medical technology and innovation, opening new possibilities for safer and more precise cancer care.

As science continues to evolve, light based treatments could become a key part of a more sustainable future in healthcare.

This breakthrough shows how advanced technology can turn simple elements like light into powerful healing tools. The future of medicine may shine brighter than ever before.