Tag Archives: Advanced Cancer Treatment

Taking Care of Yourself: Important Safety Reminders About Your Cancer-Compromised Immune System

Keep in Mind Your Immune System

When you’re undergoing cancer treatment, it demands the full attention of your immune system, leaving the door open for bacteria and other germs to sneak in. Use these food-handling tips to reduce the risk of disease and infection.

Food Preparation

  • Wash hands thoroughly with warm, soapy water before and after food prep and before eating.
  • Keep foods at the proper temperature. Hot foods should be above 140° F, while cold foods should be below 40° F.
  • Don’t thaw proteins at room temperature. Use a microwave or place them in the refrigerator with a pan to catch drips.
  • Defrosted foods should be used right away and never refrozen.
  • Don’t take chances. If any foods look, feel or smell strange, dispose of them immediately.
  • Wash produce under running water using a vegetable scrubber. Don’t use soaps, bleaches or other chemical cleaning products.

Cooking

  • Always use a clean spoon when tasting foods while cooking.
  • Don’t guess when cooking meat. Use a food thermometer for accuracy. Beef should be cooked to 160° F while poultry should be cooked to 180° F.
  • If your microwave doesn’t have a turntable, rotate the dish a quarter-turn a couple of times during cooking to ensure that food is evenly heated.
  • When reheating leftovers, cover food with a lid or plastic wrap and stir frequently.

Immunotherapy at Issels®: Personalized Non-Toxic Cancer Treatment

Our immunotherapy treatment programs are designed to boost your immune system, allowing it to fight cancer naturally. Visit our website to learn more about how our state-of-the-art cancer treatment has helped many patients achieve long-term remission.

July is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month, Will You Be Wearing the Yellow Ribbon?

New Immunotherapy Drug Can Help Fight Bladder Cancer
New Immunotherapy Drug Can Help Fight Bladder Cancer

If you or someone you love has received a diagnosis of bladder cancer or is in stage four and have exhausted treatment options, NBC news reports that there may be new hope for immunotherapy treatment for bladder cancer. This information is timely as July is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month.

Immunotherapy treatments

Immunotherapy for bladder cancer works by treating a person’s immune system so it has the ability to fight cancer.

According to the NBC news article, “more successful approaches, involve training immune cells to recognize a patient’s specific tumors, or finding and amplifying a patient’s own tumor-specific immune cells.” Immunotherapy now appears to be the best course of cancer treatment for many patients.

New drug, new hope

Hope now lies in a drug newly-approved by the FDA called atezolizumab (brand name Tecentriq) that boosts the immune system to slow the spread of tumors in patients in the advanced stages of bladder cancer. It’s the latest development in immunotherapy for bladder cancer treatments and it has shown promising results.

In a study of 119 patients who received the drug as treatment revealed that growth stopped in the tumors in 24% of those patients in the advanced stages of bladder cancer. The drug also shrank the tumors by 30%. According to the research team, 21 of the original patients from 2014 who received the immunotherapy for bladder cancer are still in remission today.

Learn more about our non-toxic immunotherapy for bladder cancer by contacting Issels® Integrative Immuno-Oncology.

New Regulators That Impact Cell Growth Are Discovered and May Impact Cancer Growth

Regulated Cell Growth
Regulated Cell Growth

A new discovery made at the Center for RNA Research at IBS could provide some insight into how cancerous tumors are formed in the body and how their growth can be repressed. This could be very big news for those undergoing treatment with Issels Integrative Immuno-Oncology.

For the first time, researchers have discovered that the enzyme PKR is activated during cellular mitosis. PKR was previously known as a trigger of immune response during a viral infection. It is believed that the disruption of PKR activation causes a delay in mitotic progression and defects in cell division that ultimately results in cancer growth.

Researchers also discovered that PKR activation is closely regulated by TAR RNA Binding Protein, or TRBP. TRBP inhibits PKR activation and otherwise helps control the cell cycle.

It isn’t yet known what this new research means for cancer treatment, but this new discovery could lead to revolutionary new cancer treatments that prevent cancer cells from dividing. Given time, there could be a treatment that safely affects tumors before they have time to spread.

Issels® and Cancer Treatment

We at Issels® focus closely on the tumor and the tumor microenvironment in our cancer treatment and research, so this discovery is very exciting and could change the way we look at cancer treatment. For more information about Issels® and our alternative cancer treatments, visit us online at http://issels.com.

New Breast Cancer Medication Causes an Exceptional Response in Test Patients

New Innovative Treatments Are In The News
New Innovative Treatments Are In The News

‘Hope springs eternal’ is a good old-fashioned saying that fits perfectly when discussing a new breast cancer medication that is sparking positive results.

The drug in the news is called, everolimus – brand name Afinitor. It has been approved for two years and used to fight against certain breast cancers and also  treat tumors in the pancreas and kidneys. It is known for creating “exceptional responses” to treatment due to a recent turn of events for patient, Grace Silva, whose story was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

After taking the drug for approximately two months, the 58-year-old experienced her “exceptional response” when tumors in her lungs virtually disappeared. According Dr. Jochen Lorch, Silva’s oncologist, this type of result from drugs is nearly non-existent.

Research studies to understand why exceptional responses occur are on-going. One reason is due to a technology known as next generation sequencing. The once very expensive test to decode DNA genetics in cancer patients is now much more affordable due next-generation technology.

With this genetic technology available, doctors have additional information at hand that helps them determine mutations in tumors, such as Grace Silvas. Mutations can have several effects including increasing the size of a tumor, enabling cancer cells to resist drugs, or working toward shrinking tumors.

Another piece of good new is from the National Cancer Institute that has initiated a new program called the Exceptional Responders Initiative focused on cataloging and identifying mutation patterns. This new initiative along with upgrades by cancer researchers to the way they work with new drugs is jump-starting additional studies. With new visions on the horizon, the future for cancer patients is brighter.

If you are seeking new innovative treatments for your cancer, we invite you to evaluate the Issels Treatment programs.

Nanoparticles: Attacking Cancer from All Angles

Attacking Cancer From All Sides
Attacking Cancer From All Sides

The second leading cause of death in the U.S., the fight against cancer needs all the weapons in its arsenal that it can get. Step-in nanoparticles, tiny but tough tools ready for battle in the war.

An enormous job for infinitesimal workers: Nanotechnology in early cancer detection
Targeted delivery of specific nanoparticles to a tumor site can induce a reaction with cancer cells, prompting the body to significantly increase the production of biomarkers necessary for cancer identification. Earlier detection and diagnosis allow less burdensome treatments, offers a faster diagnosis than biopsies, and increases chances of recovery.

Miniature mappers: Nanoparticles in imaging
Nanoparticles engineered with magnetic properties are effective imaging agents when used with MRI scans. Nanites bind particularly well with tumors, allowing a very high resolution, clear map of cancerous sites for the planning of surgical removal or treatment.

Small but mighty: Nanites in cancer therapy and drug delivery
A revolutionary new technology in the fight against cancer, nanoparticles are capable of a variety of attacks against this deadly disease. Nanites can be injected into a tumor to produce heat, allowing for the destruction of cancer cells locally with X-rays, magnetic fields, or light; They can be used to encapsulate chemotherapy drugs or genes for localized delivery and a significant reduction in quantity of drugs as well as a reduction in side effects and impact on healthy tissue; and more, including an array of up-and-coming technology (LINK TO GOOGLE ARTICLE) currently under development.

Don’t stand on the sidelines in the fight against cancer. Learn more about how technology at Issels Integrative Oncology can help you today.

Cancer Drugs in the News

New Cancer Drugs
New Cancer Drugs

There’s so much negative news bombarding TV, newspaper, Internet, and radio, every day, that sometimes it can become overwhelming. On the plus side, when positive cancer news is forthcoming, we don’t want to miss it.

A recent conference in Madrid covering new cancer drug information brought exciting news and results to the forefront regarding immunotherapies and the effects on the immune system of cancer patients when combined with approved drugs.

Merck & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Roche Holding Ltd. and AstraZeneca each offered data compiled from initial testing. While results were positive from each company, there still exists a concern due to toxicity leading to negative side effects when immunotherapies are combined.

Immunotherapy drugs act on a specific protein known as Programmed Death Receptor 1 or PD-1 or PD-L1. Two of these drugs have received the stamp of approval. One drug, Keytruda from Merck, was approved in the U.S. The other, Opdivo from Bristol-Myers, was approved in Japan but not yet in the U.S.

Clinical date from AstraZeneca’s PD-L1 shows promise against lung cancer. Roche shared its results using its immunotherapy drug combined with an additional drug, Avastin, a non-immunotherapy drug used against breast cancer.

While the news is good and results have been positive showing increases in patient responding to treatment ranging from 22 percent to 40 percent, there can be side effects. The lowest result was at 8 percent for colorectal cancer patients.

Safety remains a priority with immunotherapy combinations but each company plans to continue its clinical trials with patients across the board dealing with pancreatic, neck, head, gastric, and ovarian cancer and melanoma.

At the end of the day, it’s good news.