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What if cancer didn’t have to be eradicated, but could be remembered, monitored, and controlled by the immune system itself?

In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks speaks with Dr. Zachary Hartman, the lead researcher who revisited an extraordinary breast cancer vaccine trial conducted over 20 years ago. The trial involved a small group of women with advanced breast cancer. Women who, remarkably, are all still alive today.

By analyzing their blood decades later, the research team discovered that these women still carried immune cells capable of recognizing their cancer, suggesting durable immune memory lasting more than two decades. (Study link here.)

We discuss:

• The original breast cancer vaccine trial and what it was designed to do, in plain language
• What it was like to discover that the women from the trial was still alive more than 20 years later
• How the immune systems of these women continued to recognize cancer cells long after the trial
• What CD27-positive immune cells are and why they matter, explained simply
• Why helper CD4 T cells may be just as important, or more important, than killer CD8 T cells when it comes to cancer
• What happened when researchers combined a CD27-boosting antibody with a cancer vaccine in mice
• What surprised the research team most
• The challenges of translating findings from mice to human trials
• Whether cancer could someday be managed long-term by the immune system
• How generalizable this immune memory might be across different cancers
• What this research could mean for how we think about vaccines in a post-pandemic world
• The one key message the researcher hopes the public takes away
• What’s next in this line of research

This episode offers a rare, hopeful (but scientifically grounded) look at how the immune system may be capable of remembering cancer for decades.

Guest Bio: Dr. Zachary C. Hartman is an Associate Professor at Duke University in the Departments of Surgery, Pathology, and Integrative Immunobiology, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Applied Therapeutics and is a member of the Cellular and Molecular Biology and Genetics and Genomics programs. He earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and completed his PhD at Duke University, followed by postdoctoral training in tumor immunology and breast oncology at Duke and the MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2012, Dr. Hartman returned to Duke to establish a research program focused on tumor immunology and the development of cancer immunotherapies, including therapeutic vaccines, immune agonists, checkpoint inhibitors, antibody-based therapies, and strategies to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses.

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*Disclaimer* This episode is part of the Causes or Cures Public Health Is Weird bonus series and is for educational and entertainment purposes only. If you’re worried about a child or pet eating a poinsettia, contact a medical professional or veterinarian. This podcast is not a poison control center. :)

Every December, poinsettias show up, and so does the panic.

Suddenly, a festive red plant is treated like antifreeze with leaves: dangerous to kids, deadly to pets, and one accidental nibble away from an emergency vet visit. But where did this fear actually come from, and does the evidence support it?

In this bonus episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks dives into one of the most persistent holiday health myths and asks a very public-health question: How did a weak claim turn into a century-long panic?

Using poison-control data, toxicology studies, veterinary evidence, and a little personal history (including a dog named Barnaby and the hazards of NYC sidewalks), this episode unpacks what poinsettias really do, and don’t do, to humans and animals.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Where the myth of the “deadly poinsettia” originated and why it stuck
• What large U.S. poison-control data shows about poinsettia exposures in children
• Why poinsettias behave very differently in real life than in our imaginations
• What toxicology studies in animals actually found (hint: no lethal effects)
• What the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center reports when pets chew on poinsettias
• Why dose and curiosity matter more than fear
• How risk is often exaggerated when kids, pets, and holidays collide
• Whether Dr. Eeks would let her own pets near a poinsettia (spoiler: probably not, but not for the reasons you think)
• A Christmas legend behind the poinsettia...and a gentle reminder that miracles don’t pause for plant anatomy

Public health takeaway:

Not everything we fear is dangerous. Sometimes fear does the exaggerating, not the risk.

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You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.
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References:

All scientific references discussed in this episode are below and available on the accompanying blog post at BloomingWellness.com.

1. New York Botanical Garden Article: Dispelling a Seasonal Myth: For Humans, The Poinsettia is Not a Toxic Plant – Science Talk Archive
2. Krenzelok, E. P., Jacobsen, T. D., & Aronis, J. M. (1996). Poinsettia exposures have good outcomes… just as we thought. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 14(7), 671–674.
3. Evens, Z. N, & Stellpflug, S. J. (2012). Holiday Plants with Toxic Misconceptions. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Ca

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Microplastics are everywhere—but what are they doing inside the human body?

In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks speaks with Dr. Christian Pacher-Deutsch about his lastest study and the growing evidence that micro- and nanoplastics may affect the digestive system, the gut microbiome, and long-term health. He explains why this problem has reached crisis level.

Rather than focusing on dramatic claims or quick fixes, this conversation explores what the science actually shows, including how probiotics may help mitigate some of the harmful effects of microplastics...not by breaking them down, but by supporting gut integrity and immune balance.

We discuss:

• What microplastics and nanoplastics are, how they’re formed, and where human exposure comes from
• Why nanoplastics may be especially concerning due to their size and biological interactions
• The range of health effects microplastics have been linked to, including immune, neurological, reproductive, and carcinogenic effects
• How microplastics may disrupt the gastrointestinal tract, including digestion, inflammation, barrier function, and gut permeability
• What the microbiome is and why it plays a central role in health
• Why probiotics were considered as a potential solution, and what the research found
• Why probiotic bacteria are unlikely to directly degrade plastics
• How probiotics may still help reduce inflammation and support the gut’s protective barriers
• Whether certain bacteria appear more protective than others
• The role of industry collaboration and whether probiotic formulations are being explored
• Whether probiotics can realistically help us get ahead of the microplastic crisis, or if they are only part of a larger solution
• Practical ways people can reduce exposure, and where reduction may be unrealistic
• How diet, including probiotic- and prebiotic-rich foods, might help mitigate risk
• What this research changed about Dr. Pacher-Deutsch’s own habits
• What’s next in microplastics and health research

This episode offers a clear, evidence-based look at microplastics inside the human body—without panic, hype, or false promises.

GUEST BIO: Dr. Pacher-Deutsch is a scientist and researcher in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; Center for Biomarker Research in Medicine (CBmed), Graz, Austria.

Work with me? Perhaps we are a good match.

You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.
Follow Eeks on Instagram here.

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