Cancer Doctor
Cancer Doctor

Immunotherapy is an individual approach during cancer treatment

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There are two basic approaches in immunotherapy for cancer. One is the isolation of some proteins of the patient’s cancer, which are then used to stimulate the immune system and attack it. These forms of immunotherapy are highly effective on cancers such as prostate, colon, kidney, breast, skin, and others. [1]

A second approach is to build a viral “smart bomb,” by engineering certain viruses to selectively invade and kill cancerous cells. When cell breakdown (lysis) occurs, antigens release express GM-CST, which improves the immune response against that cancer. [1]

Anything that has an accelerator must also have a brake, and the immune system is a perfect example of that. The main function of our immune system is to destroy the invading agents — viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites — but this also requires having armaments which, in the hands of the wrong commander, becomes a lethal risk for its owner.

Arthritis, lupus, Type 1 diabetes, and at least 50 other autoimmune diseases are caused when a patient's immune system exceeds its functions and reacts against its own cells. Conversely, immunodeficiencies open the door for infection and also cancer, since the immune system is slowing down.

Playing with this delicate balance, however, is one of the most promising lines of research against cancer and is known as immunotherapy.

Many reputable institutions in the world have been conducting research in this field: The Cancer Research Institute, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, The Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, NIH, MD Anderson Cancer Centers, and many others. Unfortunately, the reality is that FDA-approved immune therapies are slowly being released to the public, and at stratospheric prices.

But there is hope. In some areas of the world, freedom of choice in healthcare is making immunotherapies available and affordable.

At Verita Life, the combination of vaccines used during the treatment will differ from patient-to-patient, tumor-to-tumor and takes into consideration a wide range of factors, including a patient's nutritional status, family history, disease history, etcetera. In addition to vaccines, we also use peptides to stimulate the action of antibodies and immune cells, such as T-lymphocytes, Macrophages, and more.

It’s no secret that cancerous cells are constantly developing within all of our bodies with the immune system constantly fighting back. How successful depends on a wide variety of factors, for example, chronic intoxication, viral infections, poor nutrition, stress, immunodeficiencies, etc.

With this in mind, we hand-tailor an individual approach during cancer treatment, which for us is paramount, including pinpointing exactly when and how the disease might have begun and redirected your immune weaponry to fight it.

References

Ren-You Pan, Wen-Hung Chung, Mu-Tzu Chu, Shu-Jen Chen, Hua-Chien Chen, Lei Zheng, and Shuen-Iu Hung, Recent Development and Clinical Application of Cancer Vaccine: Targeting Neoantigens, J Immunol Res. 2018; 2018: 4325874. Published online 2018 Dec 19. doi: 10.1155/2018/4325874 PMCID: PMC6313977, PMID: 30662919

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