Category Archives: Immunotherapy for Cancer

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Immunotherapy Trains Your Body to Fight Its Own Cancer

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Immunotherapy Trains Your Body to Fight Its Own Cancer
Immunotherapy Trains Your Body to Fight Its Own Cancer

Your body’s immune system does an amazing job of protecting you from viruses, bacteria and other invaders. Tumor cells are able to avoid detection as foreign bodies, but immunotherapy for cancer is removing this advantage by boosting your body’s natural defenses.

How Cancer “Hijacks” the Immune System

When foreign cells invade your body, they carry proteins called antigens that trigger an immune response. Your system produces antibodies that bind with the antigens, which either neutralize the rogue cells on their own or alert T-cells to attack and destroy them.

While cancer cells also produce antigens, they manage to evade the normal process by hijacking the checkpoints that signal the immune system to attack. The cells remain undetected, allowing them to multiply as they continue to weaken the immune system.

Penetrating the Shield around Cancer Cells

Instead of using external treatments like radiation and chemotherapy to fight tumors, immunotherapy for cancer focuses on boosting the natural abilities of the immune system by “training” it to recognize and attack cancer cells. These methods include:

  • Drugs containing lab-made monoclonal antibodies that bind to cancer cell antigens and block the normal proteins that “disguise” them
  • Vaccines containing proteins that help the immune system recognize antigens on tumor cells

Issels®: A Personalized Approach

Immunotherapy for cancer has become a valuable alternative or supplement to traditional treatments, but each patient’s case is different. We use specialized testing to create an integrative treatment method that addresses your particular needs.

Contact us today to learn why Issels® has been a leader in the successful use of immunotherapy treatments.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Treatment, Immuno-Oncology, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Dr. Josef M. Issels Predicted the Future of Immunotherapy

Dr. Josef M. Issels, Our Founder
Dr. Josef M. Issels, Our Founder

Over the last few years, immunotherapy for cancer has become increasingly embraced by the medical community. But it was more than 20 years ago when our founder, Dr. Josef M. Issels, predicted the future of immunotherapy as an integrative and interdisciplinary approach.

A Groundbreaking Approach to Cancer Treatment

In a practice that spanned more than 40 years, Dr. Issels conducted research involving patients in the end stages of cancer, most of whom had exhausted all traditional methods of treatment. Results led to his pioneering a “holistic concept” of fighting cancer.

While traditional treatments focused on cancer as a disease unto itself, Dr. Issels believed it was a symptom of a larger disease affecting the entire person, body and mind. In such cases, the immune system is unable to perform its usual duties of defending against chronic development of malignant cells.

The breakdown of normal immune system functions centers on T-cells including Natural Killer (NK) Cells, which have the job of detecting and identifying foreign substances that enter the body. Without this normal barrier, malignant cells are free to multiply and form tumors.

Immunotherapy: An Integrative Method

Dr. Issels’ approach went beyond destruction and removal of tumors to address the main underlying causes of malignant cell development and immune system suppression in order to achieve long-term tumor remissions.

Traditional methods such as radiation and chemotherapy merely focus on the cancer cells and tumors. When they become part of an integrative treatment, including non-toxic immunotherapy, they can achieve better results with fewer side effects.

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

Our highly personalized non-toxic immunotherapy programs include Cancer Vaccines, Natural Killer (NK) Cells, Lymphokine-Activated Killer (LAK) Cells and Cytokines.

Contact us today to learn more about why immunotherapy for cancer is one of the hottest topics in modern healthcare.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment, Immuno-Oncology, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Highlighting Natural Killer Cell Activation through the Issels Immunotherapy Protocol

Worker in a lab
NK Cells and Immunotherapy for Cancer

Natural Killer (NK) cells may sound scary, but they play a valuable role in immunotherapy for cancer. Boosting NK cell levels helps the immune system mount a strong response in order to eliminate tumors.

How Natural Killer Cells Work

When cancer is diagnosed early, treatment has a good success rate. Cases of late-stage cancer are more difficult to treat because the tumor cells have often begun metastasizing throughout the body.

This is where NK cells come in. They fight tumors as well as metastasized cancer cells through production of proteins known as cytokines. In addition, NK cells are so-called because of their capacity to quickly attack foreign bodies without the activation of antibodies.

Another valuable benefit of NK cells is their function in mediating anti-tumor immunity. Studies have shown that mice with reduced levels of NK cells have lowered resistance to metastases and RMA tumor outgrowth.

The Effect of Immunotherapy on NK Cell Levels

An analysis of NK cell counts was done on 129 patients who had gone through the Issels® treatment program. The group of patients ranged across all four Stage classifications and a wide variety of types of tumors.

Each patient’s individual protocols included non-toxic treatments such as immune-stimulants, autohemotherapy, oxidative therapy, enzymatic therapy, phytotherapy, amino acids, detoxification strategies, dietary and life-style changes, as well as emotional support. After approximately three weeks, the group showed an average 48 percent increase in absolute NK cell levels per individual.

Issels®: A Trailblazer in Immunotherapy for Cancer

Our clinic was established to carry on the groundbreaking work of our founder, Dr. Josef M Issels, in the field of immunotherapy for cancer. Contact us for more information about cancer vaccines and other personally tailored treatment programs.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Treatment, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Reader Reviews of “Cancer: a Second Opinion” by Dr. Josef M. Issels

Josef M. Issels, Our Founder
Josef M. Issels, Our Founder

“Every second of every day, a man, woman or child dies of cancer.” That is the opening line of Cancer: A Second Opinion, written by Dr. Josef M. Issels, founder and namesake of our immunotherapy for cancer clinic. It also sums up why he felt the need to share his valuable work with the rest of the world.

“A General Disease of the Whole Body”

The medical community has traditionally viewed cancer as a localized disease and focused treatment on the tumor itself. Dr. Issels put forth the idea that cancer is actually the symptom of a generalized disease affecting the entire body.

This concept formed the basis of Dr. Issels’ groundbreaking work developing integrative immunotherapy for cancer treatments. While acknowledging that methods such as surgery and radiotherapy are necessary tools, Dr. Issels focused on treatments that fight the cause of cancer by boosting the immune system, the body’s natural line of defense.

The Public Responds

Cancer: A Second Opinion has achieved a five-star rating on Amazon. Here’s what some readers had to say in their reviews:

  • “Perhaps the most important book written on cancer in the twentieth century.”
  • “This book is for fighters.”
  • “When confronted with cancer I wanted to read more, and this was a great book for info. Would suggest it to anyone dealing with this.”

Issels®: A Pioneer in Immunotherapy for Cancer

Cancer vaccines, NK cells and hyperthermia are some of the non-toxic, innovative treatments used at our Issels® clinic. Visit our website to learn more about Dr. Issels and how we are carrying his legacy forward.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment, Immuno-Oncology, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy for Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

PBS News Hour Features Immunotherapy for Cancer

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Diverse Hands Holding The Word Cancer
Immunotherapy brings breakthroughs to cancer treatment.

As immunotherapy for cancer becomes an increasingly valuable method for fighting tumors, stories have moved from medical journals into the mainstream media. Immunotherapy was the topic of a recent edition of Leading Edge, a weekly science and technology report featured on PBS News Hour.

Immunotherapy: One Woman’s Story

First up were Melinda Welsh, a journalist who was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, and her oncologist, Dr. Alain Algazi of the University of California, San Francisco. When Melinda’s cancer metastasized, her doctors told her she had no more than a year to live.

Dr. Algazi began treating Melinda with an immunotherapy method known as a checkpoint inhibitor, which releases the “brakes” that prevent the body’s immune system from attacking tumor cells. Melinda then went into remission and continues today, three years after receiving her original diagnosis.

The Immunotherapy Difference

Host Hari Sreenivasan then conducted a discussion with Dr. Jeffery Bluestone, CEO of Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and New York Times reporter Matt Richter.

Highlights of the conversation include:

• Immunotherapy for cancer differs drastically from other treatments in that it uses the body’s natural power rather than poisons to fight tumors.

• Richter, who has profiled a number of cancer patients, characterized immunotherapy as a “quantum leap” in the fight against cancer.

• Dr. Bluestone cited the example of melanoma, which has gone from 5 percent five-year survival to 40 percent five-year survival.

A Personalized Approach

Our non-toxic immunotherapy for cancer treatments are tailored to meet your specific needs. Visit our website to read and hear success stories from patients who have been treated at our Issels® clinics.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Twenty-three Genes Discovered that Affect the Spread of Cancer

The 23 Genes that are Responsible for Cancer

Metastasis is the process by which tumors spread to different parts of the body, making cancer even more difficult to treat. Researchers in the United Kingdom recently made an exciting discovery about how metastasis occurs, which holds promise for developing a cure.

Investigating the Science behind Metastasis

Up to 90 percent of cancer deaths are a result of metastasis. Unfortunately, scientists were unable to get a clear understanding of how cancer cells travel to other parts of the body.

Last year a team at the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute conducted a study of how tumors spread in genetically engineered mice. After screening for 810 genes, they were able to identify 23 that either positively or negatively affected the spread of skin cancer to the lungs.

The most effective change came upon removing the Spns2 gene. After finding that metastasis to the lungs was reduced by approximately four times, the researchers repeated the procedure with breast, colon and lung cancers with similar results.

Positive Implications for Immunotherapy Research

This discovery is particularly relevant for the continuing development of immunotherapy for cancer. Scientists already knew that the Spns2 gene affects the immune system, but they had no idea it was a factor in metastasis. They found that the mice in the study that lacked the Spns2 gene had a ratio of immune cells that varied from the normal amount.

Immunotherapy for Cancer and Tumor Metastasis

Our integrative immunotherapy treatments have been used successfully on patients with metastasis involving various types of cancer, including lung, liver and bone. Contact us for more information about the history of Issels® and our immunotherapy programs.