Will an Immune Profile Show if Immunotherapy Will be an Effective Cancer Treatment?

At Issels®, our cancer immunotherapy programs are tailored to fit a patient’s specific needs. Scientist have identified an immune profile that could lead to improved methods of determining which patients may benefit from treatment.

Building a Team of “Allies”

While T cells in the immune system are equipped to fight tumors, cancer cells frequently neutralize them by triggering the response that shuts T cells down. Checkpoint inhibitors are a form of immunotherapy that counteracts the process, enabling T cells to resume their job of attacking cancer cells.

Matthew “Max” Krummel, PhD, a leader in the field of immunotherapy, explains why his team broadened their focus to include other immune cells. They studied every type of cell in tumors to determine which ones could also activate T cells, forming a community of “allies.”

Boosting the T Cell Immune Response

Krummel, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, led his team in identifying a special class of dendritic cell, which they refer to as stimulatory dendritic cells, or SDCs. In subsequent studies, they found that both mice and humans with tumors had a poor response to checkpoint inhibitors if they lacked SDCs.

The research team went on to explore why different patients have different SDC levels. They discovered a direct correlation between levels of a specific cytokine, expressed by natural killer cells, and levels of SDC.

Kevin Barry, PhD and leader of the latest study, said the results hold promising implications for two applications. NK cells and SDCs could be used as biomarkers to predict successful immunotherapy, while increasing NK cell levels in other patients could improve their response to treatment.

State-of-the-Art Cancer Immunotherapy

For years, Issels® has been a leader of integrating dendritic and NK cells in our cancer immunotherapy treatments. Contact us to learn more.

Cancer Patients Can Benefit From Hands-On Therapies

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, “the human touch” is more than just a figure of speech. Hands-on therapies can help reduce stress, boost your spirits, and reduce physical pain.

How “Healing Hands” Boost the Fight against Cancer

There is scientific research to back up the positive claims of touch therapy. One widely publicized study involved a group of married women who were threatened with a mild electric shock, but their anxiety levels dropped instantly with a touch from their husbands’ hands.

Chronic stress and depression inhibit your body’s immune system, making it more vulnerable to invading cancer cells. Touch therapy can improve your overall wellness so you’re better equipped to fight the disease.

3 Popular Touch Therapy Techniques:

  • Body psychotherapy goes beyond talk therapy, helping you tune in to bodily sensations that uncover deep emotional traumas. Methods focus on various elements such as muscle contraction, breathing and posture.
  • Physical therapy addresses pain and limited movement in muscles, joints and other tissues. According to one study, women who had undergone breast cancer surgery and worked with a physical therapist had less pain and better quality of life than others who exercised on their own.
  • Massage therapy may seem like a luxury, but it actually triggers brain activity that increases serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol.

Immunotherapy for Cancer: An Integrative Approach

At Issels®, our innovative immunotherapy for cancer uses a comprehensive mind-body approach to attack cancer cells while restoring your natural immune response. Visit our website for more information about our non-toxic, personally tailored treatment programs.

Fevers Boost the Immune Response – New Study Focuses on the Cancer Connection

Most people just want to crawl back into bed when they’re running a fever. Who would have thought there may be a positive aspect to feeling so bad? Incredibly, a published study indicates there may be a connection between fever and cancer immunotherapy.

What Is a Fever?

Infectious fever is one of the immune system responses to foreign organisms. When bacteria known as exogenous pyrogens enter the body, it triggers the immune system to produce endogenous pyrogens, or mediators, to fight them. This begins a chain of events that culminates in a rising temperature.

Endogenous mediators include cytokines, such as interleukins and interferons. During a fever, these mediators redirect metabolic substrates and energy, resulting in a higher range of immune effectors. One such effector is lymphocytes that express gd T cells.

How a Fever Affects the Immune System

A fever generates large numbers of gamma delta T cells. These cells are valuable in fighting infection that initiates the fever response. They also have potent anti-tumor properties, which may have applications for cancer immunotherapy methods. This process indicates that a high incidence of fevers may actually reduce the risk of cancer.

Past research has largely involved alpha beta T cells. While the connection between the fever response and cancer is still largely anecdotal, researchers now have a foundation to expand studies on the topic along with possible clinical benefits. This specific study, based on patient accounts documented over several decades, was first published in Quarterly Review of Biology.

Cancer Immunotherapy: The Issels® Difference

Our personally tailored immunotherapy programs are designed to help the body’s own immune system fight tumors. These non-toxic vaccines and cell therapies avoid the adverse side effects that accompany many traditional cancer treatments. Visit our website to learn more about the Issels® Difference.

Cancer Risks with Alcohol Use

Doctors have long cautioned against poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking, that increase the risk of cancer. In a study that may hold implications related to immunotherapy for cancer, scientists have discovered how alcohol use causes DNA damage in cells.

Harmful Effects of Alcohol on DNA

Cancer Research UK partially funded a study conducted by a research team at Cambridge. After mice were given diluted alcohol, also known as ethanol, they experienced genetic damage as a result of acetaldehyde that forms when the body processes alcohol.

Using chromosome analysis and DNA sequencing, the researchers found that acetaldehyde causes DNA within blood stem cells to break. Once the chromosomes rearrange, the DNA sequences are permanently changed.

According to Professor Ketan Patel, lead author of the study, DNA-damaged stem cells can lead to the development of cancer. This damage is sometimes random, but consumption of alcohol increases the risk.

Can Alcohol-Related DNA Damage Be Prevented?

The body uses enzymes called ALDH as well as DNA repair systems to protect against alcohol-related damage. In the study, mice who lacked essential ALDH suffered four times the amount of DNA damage as mice with the enzyme, indicating that faulty defense mechanisms increase the risk.

Professor Patel warned that even intact alcohol defenses are no guarantee against developing cancer. In addition, Professor Linda Bauld of Cancer Research UK pointed out that alcohol contributes to more than 12,000 cancer cases in the UK each year.

Non-Toxic Immunotherapy for Cancer at Issels®

Our integrative programs are individually created to include gene-targeted therapies and other treatments that address a patient’s specific needs. Contact us for more information.

T-cell Senescence & Exhaustion Causing Immune Suppression Are Studied for Potential Therapy

Did you know that cells can become “tired?” Researchers explain why new discoveries on this topic have implications for improving the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.

When T-Cells Lose Their Effectiveness

T-cells, which play a vital role in the immune system’s response to cancer, can reach a dysfunctional state known as senescence and exhaustion. Much as in humans, T-cells may get to this point naturally, simply as a result of aging. Tumors and tumor microenvironments can also trigger this process.

Not surprisingly, T-cell exhaustion results in vulnerability to infection, as the immune system loses the strength to fight off foreign organisms. Preventive vaccines become less effective, as does the T-cell response to tumor antigens.

Can T-Cell Exhaustion Be Reversed?

Recent research regarding T-cell exhaustion was reviewed by a team of researchers from Jinan University in Guangzhou, China. Yangqiu Li, MD, is lead author of the report, which was published in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology.

The good news, according to Dr. Li’s team, is that scientists have identified candidate biomarkers for T-cell exhaustion, making it easier to conduct targeted research. Eventually, the goal is to discover methods of restoring weakened T-cells to the point where they can again battle tumors with the aid of cancer immunotherapy.

One promising avenue involves the thymus, which is the gland in the lymphatic system that produces T-cells. In studies involving older adult mice, bioengineered thymus organoids and combination-cytokine techniques have demonstrated the ability to improve T-cell function.

State-of-the-Art Cancer Immunotherapy

At Issels®, our non-toxic, individually tailored immunotherapy programs have helped patients with advanced cancer achieve remission, even when other treatments have been unsuccessful. We stay current with research to ensure our protocols incorporate the latest developments.

Contact us today to learn more about “the Issels® difference.”

How to Starve Cancer Getting Fuel from Fat Cells

Cancer research is now going beyond the genetic aspect to explore how the disease interacts with the body’s systems. Recent studies of the relationship between cancer and fat cells may have implications concerning immunotherapy for cancer.

Feeding the Growth of Cancer Cells

While the precise causes are not yet known, obesity has been identified as a risk factor for prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. As a result, research into the link between cancer and fat cells has focused on this form of the disease.

Previous tests involved mice who were fed a high-fat diet. In contrast, researchers at Sanford Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in San Diego conducted a study using mice who lacked a protein called p62, causing them to become obese on a normal diet.

According to co-author Dr. Jorge Moscat, this control was necessary to get a clear understanding of the communication pathways between cancer and fat cells. The team discovered that p62 suppresses another protein known as mTORC1, which in turn inhibits energy use by fat cells.

Can Cancer Cells Be “Starved” to Death?

With metabolism halted in fat cells, nutrients are then available to fuel development of tumor cells. Lack of p62 also triggers production of proteins found at high levels in particularly aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

As explained by Dr. Moscat, these findings can help identify specific substances to be targeted by immunotherapy for cancer treatments with the goal of “starving” cancer cells.

State-of-the-Art Immunotherapy for Cancer at Issels®

Contact Issels® for information about our non-toxic, personally developed immunotherapy programs to treat advanced and therapy-resistant cancers.