Category Archives: Alternative Cancer Treatment

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy for Cancer Explained

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Building Your Immune System to Fight Cancer
Building Your Immune System to Fight Cancer

While our Issels® center has been using immunotherapy to treat cancer for years, the term has come into mainstream use fairly recently. How much do you understand about this cutting-edge treatment and the science behind it? Here’s a helpful look at the definition of immunotherapy along with how and why it works.

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is simply summed up by its name: it involves cancer treatment by way of stimulating your body’s own immune system to fight the tumors. This can be done with methods that directly target the system, or via man-made substances that supplement the system’s natural tools.

How your immune system works

When bacteria and other foreign cells enter your body, it triggers a response from your immune system, which begins producing substances to fight the invading cells. This reaction can be seen in a number of symptoms, from the redness of a sore throat to the blemishes of acne.

Unfortunately, cancer cells have ways to “trick” the immune system. One is by creating cells that aren’t different enough from normal cells to be recognized as foreign. Another is by producing alternative substances that neutralize the immune response. Immunotherapy for cancer is designed to help your immune system target these cells and giving it sufficient strength to fight them.

Fighting cancer with non-toxic immunotherapy

Vaccines and Cell Therapies prepared from the patient’s own immune cells are just two of the non-toxic immunotherapy approaches available at Issels®. Visit our website for more information about our center, along with testimonials from the many patients we have successfully treated.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer

Eating Tips for All Phases of Cancer Care

Eating Tips for Cancer Patience
Eating Tips for Cancer Patience

Proper nutrition is the foundation of good health, and it becomes even more important if you have received a diagnosis of cancer. Unfortunately, side effects of the disease and its treatment interfere with your eating plan at a time when you need it the most.

How can you overcome the challenges of eating well during cancer care? Here are some tips to guide you through each phase.

Before treatment

  • Talk to your doctor or a nutritionist about recommended foods and dietary supplements.
  • Start following a healthy diet immediately to boost your strength and reduce chances of infection.
  • Stock your kitchen with easy-to-prepare foods, including items like soup and broth that you can eat even when you’re not feeling well.

During treatment

  • Consume as much as you can during times when you have the greatest appetite. This will help sustain you during the periods when you don’t feel like eating.
  • Enlist help if you don’t feel up to cooking.

After treatment

  • Introduce a variety of foods back into your diet as much as possible for well-rounded nutrition.
  • Cook large batches of meals and freeze the extras for future use.
  • Reduce or eliminate your consumption of processed foods. Use low-fat preparation methods such as broiling, steaming and roasting.

At Issels®, we take your lifestyle and other individual factors into consideration when developing our personalized immuno-oncology cancer care programs. Contact us for more information about genomic testing, cancer vaccines and other elements of our non-toxic immunotherapy treatments.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Living with Cancer

Five Tips for Coping with Your Cancer Diagnosis

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Tips For Dealing With Cancer
Tips For Dealing With Cancer

No matter how strong you are, there is nothing that can truly prepare you for a diagnosis of cancer. Once it’s happened, creating a plan of action helps you maintain a positive frame of mind that’s very important for your cancer care.

Here are five valuable tips for activities that reduce the mental and emotional upheaval and allow you to cope with your cancer diagnosis proactively.

  1. Gather as much information as you can.

Knowledge is power, and the more you educate yourself, the less helpless you will feel. If you would rather leave the decisions to your healthcare team, get whatever answers you need to feel comfortable about your cancer care.

  1. Explore support groups.

A cancer diagnosis can create a profound sense of loneliness. Alleviate the feeling by spending time among others who have been there before and understand your emotions. If necessary, check out a few different groups to find one where you feel comfortable.

  1. Reassess your priorities.

Spend time with people you care most about and participate in activities that give you the most satisfaction. This is where you will gain much of the emotional and spiritual sustenance to see you through.

  1. Take care of yourself physically.

Make sure you are getting enough rest and are following a healthy diet.

  1. Maintain your normal lifestyle as much as possible.

Consistency is comforting, but don’t be afraid to alter your routine when it’s beneficial.

Cutting-edge, non-toxic immunotherapy treatments are part of the effective cancer care programs at Issels®. Visit our website to learn more about our state-of-the-art cancer vaccines and other protocols.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

New Treatment Uses T-Cells to Fight Cancer at the Root

New T-Cells to Fight Cancer
New T-Cells to Fight Cancer

One of the major road blocks in cancer research has been the unchecked mutations undergone by cancer cells, creating a moving target. An international team recently made a discovery that could overcome the problem, leading to a breakthrough for integrative immunotherapy methods.

Targeting the “tree trunk”

The group of researchers found that, in addition to random mutations, cancer cells within an individual also share specific mutations that can be isolated and attacked. Dr. Sergio Quezada of University College London’s Cancer Institute, co-author of the study, likened the approach to killing a “tree trunk” rather than fighting a tangle of branches.

Creating customized treatment

Dr. Quezeda went on to explain that a customized vaccine could be developed to attack the core mutations in a particular patient. Another possibility would be discovering which T-cells produced by the immune system fight the specific mutations. Those T-cells would then be “fished” from the patient, multiplied in a lab, and re-injected into the body.

What’s in the future?

According to Dr. Quezeda, he believes these specialized treatments would be most effective against melanoma and lung cancer. Both are on the list of the 10 most common forms of cancer in the United States. Dr. Quezeda is hopeful that, in light of this study, trials will begin within five years.

Our Issels® integrative immunotherapy centers have long been in the forefront of using personalized treatment protocols. Each patient receives a specifically created program based on genetic predisposition, lifestyle, environment and other individual factors. Visit our website to read and watch testimonials from patients who have been successfully treated at the Issels® treatment centers.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Care Tips, Cancer Research, News

US Takes “Moonshot” Approach to a Cure for Cancer – Can It Work?

The Moonshot Approach
The Moonshot Approach

Last year, Vice President Joe Biden made news promising a “moonshot” approach toward facilitating cancer research. His announcement was inspired by his son Beau’s untimely death from brain cancer. While experts appreciate Biden’s dedication to the cause, some are warning against unrealistic expectations for a cure in the near future.

In an editorial that appeared last January in the Washington Post, cancer researcher Vinay Prasad of Oregon Health and Science University compared Biden’s vision to previous lofty promises that ultimately fizzled. Prasad went on to examine the various proposals, considering the likelihood of each to succeed.

  1. Speedier approval of cancer drugs

Prasad compares the impact of this factor to “thinking you can run a faster mile by buying a new stopwatch.” Although the FDA has already demonstrated a willingness to approve most cancer drugs, their actions have no affect whatsoever on the effectiveness of these drugs.

  1. Analysis and application of past successes

Some have suggested working backwards to study individuals with a positive response to treatment and extrapolating those findings to other patients. The problem lies in proving a direct correlation between their improvement and the drugs that were used as opposed to other unrelated factors.

  1. Immunotherapy

Therapies that boost a patient’s own immune response to cancer, such as those used at our immuno-oncology center, were cited by Biden as a promising answer. But several immunotherapy drugs have already been developed, with many more studies in progress, so that’s hardly a novel suggestion.

You can count on receiving state-of-the-art treatments at our Issels® immuno-oncology center. Visit our website for more information about our non-toxic individualized protocols.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immuno-Oncology

BBC Reviews the “Right” Way to Fight Cancer

Stop Cancer Sign
It’s Time to Stop Cancer!

Cancer is the #2 cause of death in the United States. Untold amounts of time and money have been spent researching treatments, such as the non-toxic protocols used at our immuno-oncology center. But is the fight against cancer going in the right direction? Four experts recently spoke with BBC News about ways to improve the approach toward cancer research.

1. Relax government regulation

Dr. Vincent DeVita, instrumental in discovering the cure for Hodgkin’s disease, points to restrictive rules enforced by the Food and Drug Administration. He says it took three years for his team to develop their program, but today’s gauntlet of hurdles would stretch that time to 15 years.

2. Focus on early-stage treatments

According to MIT assistant economics professor Heidi Williams, shorter clinical trials for late-stage treatments result in more funding. Private funding is usually directed toward this research, suggesting that public funding could be allocated more for early-stage treatments studies.

3. Allocate more resources toward prevention

Political and economic considerations make cancer prevention efforts a lower priority, states Dr. Christopher Wild of WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. He estimates that 40 to 50 percent of cancers could be prevented if knowledge was applied to prevention as well as treatments.

4. Educate the public

Professor Pekka Puska led a landmark experiment to reduce heart disease by educating a Finnish community about the dangers of high-risk habits. A similar campaign could be used to inform the public about the connection between cancer and individual behaviors.

Cancer treatments at our Issels® immuno-oncology center are personally tailored to focus on each patient’s particular needs. Contact us for more information.