Category Archives: Uncategorized

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Uncategorized

First Ever Immunotherapy for Cancer Conference Schedule for September 2015

First Ever Conference
First Ever Conference

If you have been uncertain about the future of immuno-oncology, you have merely to look at the sudden increase in research studies and events related to the topic happening around the world. At Issels® Integrated Immuno-Oncology, we remain dedicated to keeping up-to-date with current advances.

This year marks the first conference ever dedicated to discussion about the future of immunotherapy as a survival option for cancer treatment. “The Inaugural International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival,” sponsored by the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy, the American Association for Cancer Research, the European Academy of Tumor Immunology and the Cancer Research Institute, will be hosted at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York City in the United States from September 16th to the 19th. It is being referred to as a point of reference, educational and networking meeting for everyone who is currently working in this area, including patient advocates, doctors, scientists, drug developers and regulators. According to the AACR, the conference is planned as a biennial event. The 2017 event will be hosted somewhere in Europe.

Leaders in cancer immunotherapy science and treatments will be giving over 60 talks about a wide range of topics, including biomarkers, checkpoint blockade inhibitors, combination therapies, genomic methods for identifying tumor antigens, tumor microenvironments, the microbiome, T-cell responsiveness and related therapies.

At Issels®, we are excited that immunotherapy is finally receiving the recognition it deserves as a non-toxic and personalized cancer treatment option. For more information about how this event will help improve your current treatments, or to schedule an appointment for an immunotherapy treatment plan evaluation at one of our Issels® centers, contact us today!

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Uncategorized

The New Focus on Immunotherapy Drugs for Cancer Treatment

Hypothermia To Fight Cancer?
Focusing On Immunotherapy

No single cure-all cancer immunotherapy drug exists at this time. Instead, modern medicine offers several FDA approved single and combination drug options.

What do they do to the body?

As outlined in the Vox article “Is Cancer Immunotherapy Really a Miracle Cure?,” these treatments prompt a person’s immune system to destroy cancer cells when it will not do so on its own. Immuno-oncology research began as early as the 1890s when Dr. William Coley discovered he could shrink tumors in some patients by injecting bacteria directly into their tumors.

Immuno-oncology was mostly ignored for over a century because of more evident successes in surgical, radiation and chemo therapies. Yet, many researchers now believe it could be the key to curing cancers. Modern technologies have helped us better understand at the cellular level how cancer forms and spreads and how the body responds to different treatments.

Are there risks?

Every treatment available poses risks. Like chemotherapy, immunotherapy drugs have toxic side effects and can even cause adverse immune system reactions. Currently, these immunotherapy drugs do benefit many patients.

  • Their immune systems destroy targeted cancer cells and tumors.
  • They receive remission benefits for months longer than other treatments.
  • Some receive benefits for years longer.

Researchers are only beginning to understand how they can use modified viruses to prompt the immune system to work harder and more efficiently. As the article outlines, their biggest challenge is determining who will benefit and how to create new treatments for everyone else.

If you have exhausted all other options, our personalized Issels immunotherapy with non-toxic vaccine and cell therapies prepared from your own immune cells could turn everything around.

Cancer Research, Uncategorized

Drug Combo for Melanoma May Prove to be a Silver Bullet for This Cancer

Birth Control Pills
New Drug Concoction for Melanoma

Encouraging news from successful immuno-oncology treatments for cancer: a recent study shows that a particular combination may notably prolong life for patients with melanoma. British researchers are studying the effects of two drugs — ipilimumab and nivolumab — to see if one or both drugs works best for patients with inoperable melanoma or metastatic melanoma.

As immuno-oncology drugs, both medications work by delivering antibodies that train the immune system to kill cancer cells.

Melanoma Immunotherapy Results

The results so far show that nivolumab alone may deliver better outcomes than ipilimumab alone. When taken together, patients have survived even longer. For individual patients, the results can vary depending on the presence of a certain protein, PD1.

A breakdown of the outcomes for patients with advanced and difficult melanoma:

  • Patients taking only ipilimumab have survived 2.9 months
  • Patients taking only nivolumab have survived 6.9 months
  • Patients taking the combination have survived 11.5 months
  • The blind, controlled study is still ongoing, so results may evolve

Nivolumab specifically targets cancer cells by attaching to the PD1 protein. For patients whose tumors carry PD1, treatment with nivolumab alone may be as effective as the combo. If the PD1 protein is not present, however, the combo has been performing better than ipilimumab alone.

While ipilimumab has been approved in the U.S. and European Union, the newer drug nivolumab has only been approved for trials. The promising results of the drug for PD1-positive patients, and the possibility that it creates a “one-two punch” with other immunotherapy treatments, gives hope that patients with melanoma will soon have access to the drug.

Visit Issels® for more information about immuno-oncology and our currently available treatments.

Cancer Research, Immuno-Oncology, Uncategorized

Why Is It Taking So Long to Find a Cure for Cancer?

Ideas on finding a cure for cancer.
Ideas on finding a cure for cancer.

At Issels®, we know that many of our readers wonder about research being done to find a cure for cancer. Many impatiently wait for progress as cancer leaves an indelible mark on anyone who has ever had cancer or known and/or loved someone who has had cancer.

Why is a cure taking so long?

Scientists are still trying to understand all of the complex processes that turn cells into the many types of cancers that exist.

How Does Cancer Form?

As Dr. Craig Thompson, CEO of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, pointed out in a recent article about this topic, family genetic inheritance, the formation site, immune system responses and cellular changes all factor into the complex puzzle that is cancer. We know that the last two items have the most influence:

  • The immune system isn’t perfect. Severe allergies and asthma are conditions that often happen when the immune system becomes confused about what it should or should not fight off to protect the body. Cancer is another example.
  • Many cells mutate into cancer because of natural aging changes we don’t yet completely understand. Sometimes there are errors during growth that repeat when new cells form. Lastly, cells can experience DNA damage from microorganisms, radiation, toxins and poor habits like smoking and tanning.

As Thompson noted, the key is to understand the “biology of cancer” and then use that knowledge to prevent it in those who don’t have it and create new treatments that precisely deal with causation in those who do.

At Issels® Immuno-Oncology, we have integrated many of the most recent precision techniques into our non-toxic, customized cancer treatment plans. For more information, contact us today.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Uncategorized

Researchers Predict a Rise in Breast Cancer

Cancer Detection
Researchers Predict A Rise In Breast Cancer

At Issels® Integrative Immuno-Oncology, we pay close attention to research about cancer trends from around the world to help us improve our precision treatment methods.

According to research results announced in April by Dr. Philip Rosenberg, Ph.D of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer, Epidemiology and Genetics, Americans will see several new breast cancer trends by 2030.

Age Matters

Longer lifespans will result in more breast cancer cases:

  • Dr. Rosenberg predicts a more than 50 percent rise in breast cancer cases, including an estimated 11 percent increase in older women.
  • Women who live into their 70’s and early 80’s are at a higher risk of getting ER-positive in situ cancer (i.e. tumors caused by estrogen that are confined to the breasts).
  • ER-positive in situ cases will increase overall by an estimated 10 percent.

Hopeful News

Whether you have cancer or not, it’s important to remember the following:

  • These predictions were based on other predictions and assumptions — for example, that mammography will remain a major detection method.
  • The predictions were also based on incomplete and old data, including U.S. Census Bureau data, aggregate details about 500,000 patients diagnosed with cancer in the years up through 2010 and total cancer case numbers from 2011.
  • If the predictions are accurate, at least one group will deal less with certain breast cancers: a 10 percent decrease in overall cases for those ages 50 to 69.
  • Dr. Rosenberg also predicts an 8 percent decrease in the number of ER-negative in situ and invasive cancers that are difficult to treat.

To learn more about this study, cancer trends and/or our treatment options, contact our expert and caring Issels® staff today.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Uncategorized

Promising New Treatments Use Molecular Cancer Classifications for Melanoma

Cancer Treatment in Tijuana
Preventing Melanoma

In a groundbreaking effort that could lead to improved strategies even for stage four melanoma treatment, researchers have gathered national data to better determine cancer risk of four major molecular subtypes of cancer. What does this mean for your cancer treatment efforts? Issels® wants you to know.

Improved classification of data = better treatment.
Broken down by age, race/ethnicity, poverty level, and other factors, the data gathered will help researchers more accurately determine the degree of risk, and cancer patients better understand health implications based on their breast cancer subtype, as each of the four major molecular subtypes responds differently to treatment and has varying survival rates.

More access = better treatment.
Also improving strategies for stage four melanoma treatment, the data gathered has been recorded by cancer registries nationwide, making widely available medically important information to guide therapeutic strategies for these cancer subtypes.

Faster identification = better treatment.
The new diagnostic categories identified by researchers will further support the prevention and treatment of multiple types of cancer, as well as monitor their incidence and outcomes, providing further necessary data for the use in stage four melanoma treatment.

Promising findings = a better future for you.
The findings, as well as the statistical analysis of the most common types of cancer, were reported in “The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2011,” which also confirmed encouraging trends in cancer mortality among men, women, and children alike, reflecting the progress made over the years in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.

Struggling with stage four melanoma treatment? Issels® help you on the path to recovery. Contact us today.