All posts by heavy

Cancer Research, News

Google Ventures and Big Data on Cancer

Big Cancer Data
Big Cancer Data

Google Ventures has recently made a large investment into Flatiron Health Inc., a medical software company whose cancer patient data is used to help doctors make cancer treatment decisions. The $100-plus million investment reportedly enabled the company to purchase another software firm, Altos Solutions, which compiles oncology data and whose electronic medical records are cloud-based.

A plethora of alternative cancer treatment information – soon to be accessible via the cloud.
Flatiron’s software compiles a wide array of data, including clinical and genomic data, information on patient outcomes, notes from doctors, billing, and more for the use of oncologists. Compiled with Altos’ treatment data and cloud accessibility, this information will give doctors wider access to clinical trial information including past cancer treatments and outcomes which would have otherwise been difficult to access.

An investment in hope…
Bill Maris, managing partner with Google Ventures, stated they typically don’t make investments of this size unless they really believe in the team, the product, and the good it can do for the world. The acquisition of Altos by Flatiron is very complementary, offering a significant step forward in cancer care.

Google Ventures also investing in other medical data software companies.
Other Google Venture investments include DNAnexus, Inc., who is building the world’s first searchable archive of DNA information, as well as Foundation Medicine, with its tumor analyzing software, and Predilytics Inc., which tracks hospital discharges and re-admissions.

This combination of healthcare and internet technology offers an elegant solution for patient care, and with the help of Google Ventures, a clearer view of cancer patient needs and treatment options appears to be on the horizon.

 

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Kids and Cancer Is There New Hope?

New Hope For Childhood Cancer
New Hope For Childhood Cancer

Cancer has plagued the world since the time of dinosaurs, and medicine has struggled to find a cure. When conventional treatments fail, however, new alternative cancer treatments may offer new hope.

A breakthrough in alternative cancer therapies
In one case of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Emily, age 6, was given an experimental therapy after chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant failed to cure her. Blood was taken from Emily, passed through a machine to remove white cells, and returned to her body. University of Pennsylvania scientists then constructed CARTs, chimeric antigen receptor T-cells, from a modified HIV virus, using them to reprogram Emily’s white blood cells to hunt down and destroy the cancer cells in her body. Two years later, she is still cancer free and the poster child for this radical new alternative cancer treatment developed by Novartis.

Fast-tracking therapy
Similar treatments in 25 children and 5 adults with Emily’s disease showed a 100 percent remission rate, in which cancer remained undetectable. As a result, Novartis is running clinical trials worldwide, determining how to limit side effects, and readying a manufacturing plant to create individualized treatments – forecasted to be completed by 2016. Novartis’ previous success with the breakthrough drug Gleevac, very successful against chronic myelogenous leukemia, a blood cancer, is seen as a good omen.

Novartis has purchased GlaxoSmithKline’s line of cancer drugs in order to focus on cancer cures in general, and could potentially transform cancer therapy in upcoming years. Hope is that this will be an historic period for breakthroughs in alternative cancer treatments such as cell-based and gene therapies, opening a new door for not only cancer patients, but those suffering diseases worldwide.

Cancer Research, Immunotherapy

What Is the Immunobiologic Core Treatment?

Immune System Building
Immune System Building

Issels immunobiologic core treatment for cancer is grounded in two cancer truths:

Truth #1: The Immune System Must Be Engaged

Cancer is not a one note disease that can be stopped with an antibiotic. Cancer is a symphony of diseases that affect the body in myriad ways. Cancer’s complexity is the reason traditional treatment methods often fail to achieve complete, long-term remission.

Researchers have begun to recognize what Issels cancer specialists have known for decades: The most effective cancer treatment results come from engaging the immune system to battle cancer cells. Unlike surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation which destroy healthy cells along with cancer cells immunotherapy works with the body, strengthening and supporting the body’s natural defense system.

Heralded by new Western medicine converts as “a whole new realm of medicine” and the “cancer protocol for the future,” integrative immunotherapy promotes the use of multiple beneficial therapies to bolster the immune system, enabling the body’s natural ability to destroy cancer tumors and the surrounding tumor microenvironment that drives cancer’s growth and spread.

Truth #2: Each Patient’s Biology Is Unique

The words “standard treatment” have no real meaning where cancer is concerned. Each cancer patient’s biology is unique. Differences in inherited genetic predisposition, medical history, environmental exposure, and lifestyle choices play important roles in an individual patient’s response to cancer and cancer treatment.

Issels cancer treatment centers use exacting testing methods, including genomic testing, to develop comprehensive treatment strategies that are personalized to meet the specific needs of each individual patient.

It is our ability to tailor immunotherapy to each patient’s unique biologic needs that has made our immunobiologic core treatment so successful for many cancer patients.

Living with Cancer

Starting an Exercise Plan While in Cancer Remission

 

Fighting Cancer With Exercise
Fighting Cancer With Exercise

Exercise has been called a “magic pill.” Exercise plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy immune system and helping your body fight off disease. There also appears to be a strong link between physical exercise and not only cancer prevention, but also reduced risk of cancer recurrence.

At Issels Centers for Integrative Medicine, our holistic approach to cancer treatment recognizes the benefits of exercise in achieving long-term cancer remission. Education in exercise and nutrition are included in our individualized immunotherapy plans. While some level of physical activity is encouraged during and after cancer treatment to strengthen the immune system and promote healing, we understand that most patients will need to adjust their physical activity to match fluctuations in strength and energy.

Cancer survivors should use the following tips to help manage their post-treatment exercise programs:

  • Start slow and build on your progress. Strengthening your immune system is a process. Increase activity levels gradually and don’t be upset by setbacks. It is normal for strength and energy to fluctuate after treatment. Give yourself time to heal. Do a little more when you’re feeling energized; a little less when you’re not.
  • Do what you enjoy. Immune system benefits can come from any physical activity. You’re more apt to exercise if you’re doing something you enjoy.
  • Try yoga. Yoga is an excellent low-impact exercise. Yoga does not require physical strength or stamina but offers an excellent workout.
  • Build stamina and muscle mass. Eventually, your exercise program should include a mixture of aerobic exercise to increase stamina and resistance training to rebuild lost muscle mass.
Cancer Research, News

Cancer News Roundup

Measles Killing Cancer
Measles Killing Cancer

Here is a roundup of recent discoveries that could lead to new cancer treatments:

Measles Virus Causes Cancer Remission

A concentrated dose of measles virus – the equivalent of 10 million vaccinations — has sent a woman’s incurable blood cancer into remission. A woman with metastasized multiple myeloma was injected with an experimental dose of measles vaccine in a Mayo Clinic trial.

“The idea here is that a virus can be trained to specifically damage a cancer and to leave other tissues in the body unharmed,” the Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Stephen Russell told CNN.

Cancer vaccines that target the tumor and the surrounding tumor microenvironment are producing results that many oncologists and cancer patients are calling “miraculous.” Some researchers believe the recent success with measles vaccine could lead to the development of other “virotherapies” to treat cancer.

Researchers Discover Cancer’s “Mother Cells”

British scientists say they have identified the stem cells that cause cancer. According to London’s Daily Mail, tumors originate from deadly “mother cells” that not only “give them birth” but also nurture and keep the cancer cells alive. Researchers say cancer stem cells also play a critical role in metastasis and the establishment of cancer tumors in other parts of the body.

The existence of cancer stem cells has been theorized, but this is the first time researchers have identified and tracked their progress in cancer patients. Many researchers believe that finding a way to kill cancer stem cells will be a crucial step toward curing cancer.

To stay on top of the latest cancer treatments and news, sign up for our E-newsletter today.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy Expected to Steal Spotlight at Cancer Confab

Immunotherapy Stealing The Spotlight
Immunotherapy Stealing The Spotlight

Immunotherapy is expected to steal the spotlight when the world’s leading cancer doctors convene in Chicago in June for a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. At center stage will be new biotech drugs designed to help the body’s immune system fight cancer. Under development by global pharmaceutical giants Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche, the new designer drugs enhance the ability of immune system T cells to target and attack cancer.

In previous studies, T cell therapies have produced promising results when used to combat several types of advanced cancer, including melanoma, lung and kidney cancers. New studies showing similarly promising results for advanced bladder and head and neck cancers will be presented at the conference.

T Cells: Natural Cancer Fighters

The cancer community’s interest in T cells and immunotherapy cancer treatments is two-fold:

  1. There is tremendous need to find cancer treatment solutions for advanced cancers that have proven resistant to standard Western cancer treatments.
  2. The new T cell therapies have produced only mild side effects, offering a healthier option to the often debilitating side effects associated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Immunotherapy “should represent a major advance in cancer therapy and patient survivability. Wall Street is increasingly recognizing the multibillion-dollar potential for cancer immunotherapies,” Len Yaffe of StockDoc Partners told Reuters.

While it is heartening to see Big Pharma finally embracing immunotherapy, we find it somewhat disturbing that Western medicine continues to value drug protocols over natural, non-toxic immunotherapy. Visit our website to find out about Issels’ non-toxic T cell cancer vaccines and our holistic approach to immunotherapy.