Category Archives: Immunotherapy for Cancer

Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Research Being Done to Boost Immunotherapy Response in the Tumor Microenvironment

New Smart Blood Test Allows Doctors to Tailor Treatment
The Microenvironment

Cancer cells often proliferate due to their ability to evade the body’s natural defense system. Immunotherapy for cancer eliminates this advantage by boosting the response of immune cells, but researchers have discovered a possible roadblock: a limited amount of cellular “fuel.”

Running on Empty

A team at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a study to determine why treated T cells lose mitochondrial function once they are reintroduced to the tumor environment. They confirmed that the reaction is definitely a result of proximity to the tumor and not a side effect of activation.

Data obtained during testing showed that the tumor microenvironment contains signals that repress oxidative metabolism in T cells. In effect, the cells starve from lack of energy.

Stoking the Flames

The study, published last August in the journal Immunity, found that T cells suffer a progressive loss of a PPAR-gamma coactivator that programs mitochondrial function. Laboratory testing on rats showed that just as T cells can be treated to better detect and fight tumor cells, they can be treated with the coactivator to maintain effective metabolism levels.

Dr. Greg M. Delgoffe, leader of the University of Pittsburgh team, has joined with other scientists to develop new methods of immunotherapy for cancer using the study’s results. Strategies include incorporating commonly used drugs along with further T cell modification to stimulate metabolism.

Issels®: The Leader in State-of-the-Art Immunotherapy

Our innovative, personally tailored therapies fight cancer by focusing on both the tumor and its microenvironment for more effective treatment. Contact us to learn more about our non-toxic protocols such as cancer vaccines and NK cells.

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

New Smart Blood Test Allows Doctors to Tailor Treatment

New Smart Blood Test Allows Doctors to Tailor Treatment
New Smart Blood Test Allows Doctors to Tailor Treatment

One of the challenges doctors face in treating cancer is the difficulty of determining the most effective treatment protocols for each patient. Researchers are optimistic that liquid biopsies, or “smart blood tests,” will help match patients with appropriate therapies.

Using DNA Tracking for Individualized Treatment

At our Issels® center, immunotherapy for cancer is tailored to a patient’s specific case, including location of the tumor and its microenvironment. Liquid biopsies track cancer DNA, enabling doctors to customize a patient’s treatment and monitor progress.

Blood tests are minimally invasive, so patients could undergo the process frequently with no ill effects. Doctors can then track changes more accurately over time and determine whether treatment should be changed or modified.

Liquid Blood Tests Undergo Groundbreaking Trial

This fall, scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research in London will launch the plasmaMATCH trial with 1,000 breast cancer patients. Breast cancer makes a good test subject due to its propensity to mutate as a defense against treatment.

If the trial results are encouraging, experts hope that liquid biopsies will become a standard element of cancer care within the next two years. According to Professor Johann de Bono of the Institute of Cancer Research, smart blood tests could lead to major changes in cancer screening and risk assessment with the general public.

Personally Tailored Immunotherapy for Cancer at Issels®

Our non-toxic immunotherapy protocols are based on a patient’s particular tumor and microenvironment, as well as personal factors such as lifestyle and genetic predispositions. Contact us for more information, including testimonials from patients with all forms of cancer.

 

Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy for Cancer

Immunotherapy: A Doctor’s Fundamental Change in Treating Cancer

Using the Body to Fight Cancer
Using the Body to Fight Cancer

Traditional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation are directed at fighting tumors head-on. Immunotherapy for cancer, which is aimed at making the body’s immune system more effective against tumors, has created a fundamental change in the way doctors approach treatment.

A Long-Held “Medical Dream” Becomes Reality

While the earliest attempts at immunotherapy date back more than 100 years, it presented too much of a puzzle to doctors. As a result, radiation and chemotherapy surpassed immunotherapy as the treatments of choice for cancer.

As modern research with immunotherapy uncovered more effective methods with documented track records, medical and financial floodgates have opened. Charitable organizations, pharmaceutical companies and the federal government are dedicating billions of dollars to fund hundreds of trials involving various treatments on every type of cancer.

Boosting the Body’s Own Immune System

While there is still much to learn, researchers are focusing primarily on two types of immunotherapy for cancer:

  • In the first method, a doctor removes some of the patient’s own immune cells and creates genetic alterations enabling them to attack cancer cells, at which point they are added back to the bloodstream.
  • The second method makes use of drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors, which block the mechanism used by cancer cells to evade detection and attack by the immune system.

Issels®: Leading the Way in Immunotherapy for Cancer

Our immunotherapy center has continued the groundbreaking work of our founder, Dr. Josef M. Issels, using state-of-the-art therapies to treat patients with all forms of cancer. Contact us today to learn more about our non-toxic treatments such as cancer vaccines and NK cells.

 

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

Dendritic Cell Therapy Has Been Funded by the American Cancer Society

Advances in Cancer Therapies
Advances in Cancer Therapy

As part of the American Cancer Society’s initiative to eliminate cancer, they have funded research by some of the most brilliant minds in the medical field. Among the 46 ACS-funded scientists who have gone on to win the Nobel Prize is a doctor who did groundbreaking work involving dendritic cell therapy.

Top Scientists Go to Bat for ACS

Immunotherapy for cancer received a major boost when Dr. Ralph M. Steinman of Rockefeller University discovered the dendritic cell, which plays a vital role in the function of the immune system. Dendritic cells trigger responses in T cells, allowing them to more effectively target invading cancer cells.

Dr. Bruce A. Beutler, professor of genetics and immunology at Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, is another Nobel laureate who received a grant from ACS. Along with his colleague Jules Hoffman, head of a laboratory in Strasburg, France, Dr. Beutler conducted extensive research concerning innate immunity, which is the body’s first line of defense against cancer cells and other invaders.

ACS Grants Lead to Improved Cancer Treatments

Dr. Stein’s work led to the development of Provenge, a prostate cancer vaccine that has become a valuable part of immunotherapy for cancer. The findings of Dr. Beutler could ultimately result in more effective treatments for cancer as well as rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases.

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

Cancer vaccines are just one of the advanced non-toxic therapies used at our Issels® center. Contact us to learn more about how our personalized immunotherapy protocols have helped patients with all forms of cancer, including leukemia, melanoma and breast cancer.