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Therapeutic Treatment Procedures                                           

Table of Contents:

About Us

Antiangiogenesis

Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT)

Natural Killer Cells

About Us:

The Immune Recovery Centers of America's approach is quite different from that of other clinics. We use immune therapy whenever possible. The lack of popularity of immune therapy in general oncology comes more from the way it is usually employed and not its potential. Approval for all drugs, including those for cancer, comes only after rigorous clinical trials following the guidelines set by regulatory agencies, such as the FDA. They have so far mostly mandated that immune therapy only be tested after failure of conventional chemotherapy. At this point the patient suffers from severe immune depression, a result from both the cancer as well as the prior treatments. Under these conditions it is remarkable that any activity is ever seen. Whenever immune therapy can be used as a first-line treatment, before chemotherapy, radiation or in some cases surgery, it presents a more active face.

1. The Centers' approach is to first correct the immune deficiencies found in the patient and only then apply other treatment modalities. Usually these patients also require detox, a procedure to remove cellular breakdown products in the blood. Many of our treatment protocols require a functional immune system for optimal activity. Immune restoration is accomplished through high dose ascorbic acid / B-complex vitamins, selected minerals, proprietary use of certain biologicals  (beta glucan, BCG, transfer factor, natural agents) and conventional drugs. This correction alone will often start an immune anti-tumor action.

2. Once immune correction has been accomplished, the immune system can be stimulated to intensify this activity. This can be done in a variety of ways  using selected cytokines such as Il-2, alpha interferon, tumor necrosis factor, GM colony stimulating factor and others. The goal is to elicit a tumor rejection reaction, similar to a tissue transplant rejection. Older terminology classified this as a delayed hypersensitivity reaction.

3. Procedures such as anti-cancer vaccines can also be given at this time when deemed appropriate. These immune stimulating procedures often work in concert with vaccines, each augmenting the other.  Several types of vaccines are available, some are made from the patient’s own tissue or blood components, whereas others are generic vaccines produced through use of cancer tissue grown in tissue cultures, such as the Hasumi vaccine. The variable or sometimes lack of activity seen with these vaccines in general clinical settings is most likely the result of their usage in patients that are immuno-suppressed and therefore unable to respond to treatment. We only employ vaccines in immuno-competent or immuno-restored patients.

4. Dendritic cell therapy utilizes the patient’s blood as a source of cells, which are multiplied by cell culture, antigenically stimulated and then re-infused into the patient. This is another procedure that shows promise, yet for optimal activity it requires a functioning immune system. These procedures have characteristically been available outside the US. When appropriate, we can refer patients to several such clinics.

5. A procedure which uses the patient’s own lymphocytes (white cells) to produce a natural mixture of cytokines is available at a Mexican clinic but not yet in the U.S. These cytokines are considered more active than the recombinant cytokines mentioned in 2. (above) and closely resemble natural cytokines used in clinical trials, but they are not yet commercially available.

6. IPT. Conventional chemotherapy is contraindicated with immune therapy because it reduces or blocks the immune activity. However, low doses of a chemotherapeutic agent given more frequently can often be used with immune therapy. The lower dose has little or no effect on the immune system in the short term. In fact, low doses of certain chemotherapeutic agents can actually block the so-called inhibitory arm of the immune system (as production of suppressor T-cells), which is a desired effect with some immune therapy. In order for the chemotherapeutic agent to show good anti-cancer activity it must be used in concert with other agents which in turn boost the anti-cancer effect without increasing immune suppression. One such agent is insulin, and it is used in the so-called Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT, see below). Recent literature suggests that immune therapy (cytokines) also potentiates the activity of chemotherapy agents.

Antiangiogenesis:

For a  tumor to grow and metastasize it must have a blood supply.  Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels, called capillaries, develop and grow. Angiogenesis occurs naturally in reproduction, in the development of the embryo, and in the healing process of wounds. Angiogenesis also occurs in several unnatural, pathological conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic retinopathy, and cancer.  In the case of cancer, a tumor will not grow larger than 0.5 mm unless it obtains an ever increasing blood supply through the angiogenic process.

Tumors require an extensive network of blood vessels to supply the nutrients for its excessive cell growth. Thus, the tumor calls on many of the body mechanisms to acquire those needed blood vessels. If the tumor can be denied this continuing supply of new blood vessels, tumor growth will be inhibited or halted. Treatment to block angiogenesis is properly termed antiangiogenesis (AA).  It must be emphasized that antiangiogenesis will most likely not “cure” cancer.  It will slow or halt growth, which in turn will allow more time and opportunity for other cancer treatments to become effective. 

Many natural and alternative medicines are proposed to have AA activity, which may explain in part, why they show anticancer activity. The mechanisms of activity remain to be elucidated. Some of the products claimed to have AA activity are: alpha lipoic acid, bindweed, butcher’s broom, curcumin, genistein, green tea, honeylocust fruit, quercetin, selenium, shark cartilage, and silimarin.  

There are two general approaches to antiangiogenetic therapy. One is to block these growth factors; there are several such blocking agents, such as Avastin, being developed by various drug companies. They are in clinical trial and show promise, and also promise to be expensive if and when available. Further, as with many new drugs, adverse effects are being found, which may not outweigh their potential in cancer therapy. These drugs are currently for clinical trial only, and access requires participation in such trials.

A second approach is to deny a tumor the one component absolutely required for blood vessel growth - copper. Tumors hoard copper containing about three times the normal tissue levels of this mineral. Normal tissue function remains intact when the copper levels are only lowered but a tumor’s abnormal needs are  denied. Unlike the first approach , there is already a drug available. An agent with orphan drug status for the treatment of Wilson’s disease is available and works by decreasing body copper levels. Tetrathiomolybdate (TM) selectively chelates copper and has been safely used for many years in the treatment of Wilson’s disease. Initial studies indicate that it can decrease cancer cell growth. There are at least nine clinical trials of TM in progress, and these trials will attempt to prove activity in several cancer types. 

Tetrathiomolybdate treatment requires a month or more to reduce copper levels; then the patient must be maintained at this low copper level for several months. As with all cancer treatment, the sooner treatment starts the more likely there will be success. The treatment procedure is rigorous with regard to dosage timing, diet, and other restrictions. This is not a treatment to be individually undertaken. We cannot over stress the absolute need for patients using TM therapy to be in the care of a physician and be continually monitored for the duration of the treatment. Drug adjustments will likely be required over time to maintain the desired effect. As adjuvants to TM treatment, both vitamin C and zinc,if taken with meals, will decrease copper uptake. 

We feel that TM will become a major component of successful cancer therapy in both conventional and alternative  medicine. However, we also feel that TM’s potential will only be realized when TM is rationally combined  with other modalities, both while copper levels are being lowered, and later when the low copper level is being maintained. Time is never on the side of the cancer patient. If cancer growth can be slowed or halted, this offers more time as well as opportunity for other therapies to actually kill the cancer. We feel that immune therapy will be greatly improved when combined with antiangiogenesis. It is also likely that some alternative treatments will show sufficient activity under these conditions to demand they be recognized.

Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT):

Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT) is a therapeutic procedure which utilizes low doses of conventional chemotherapeutic agents on a more frequent schedule to reduce or eliminate the toxic side effects of the drugs. It maintains the effectiveness of the drug by potentiating its anti-cancer activity with the use of insulin. A historical and theoretical discussion of IPT and how it works is covered under a separate topic. Please click here, if you would like to learn more. 

The major limitation of chemotherapy is its extreme toxic effect on all bodily functions, particularly the blood, digestive and immune systems. It comes down to whether we can kill the cancer without killing the patient. Lowering the overall toxicity of the drug while continuing to kill the cancer cells is the primary goal of IPT. Patients who do not become nauseous and whose digestive system continues to function have better nutrition and lose less weight while undergoing treatment. Keeping a higher red blood cell count contributes to better health, especially for those patients with respiratory complications. Maintaining a functioning immune system helps fight off infectious diseases. However, this can become a problem following conventional chemotherapy.

 Most clinics using Insulin Potentiation Therapy ignore its biggest and most important advantage – the ability to aggressively pursue immune therapy while simultaneously using chemotherapy, a combined treatment which is usually not possible with the standard high-dose chemotherapy approach. Immune therapy is frequently ignored because chemotherapy is considered the first line of treatment; the result is a highly suppressed immune system which consequently cannot respond to drugs which address the body’s immune function. Immune treatments can be effective when given before chemotherapy. IPT allows this dual treatment approach - front line therapy and immune therapy. Thus, cancer vaccines, cytokine stimulation, immune modulators and biologicals, as well as  other immune stimulants can be employed.

 The Immune Recovery Centers find that IPT fits well with the complementary, immune and natural treatments we use here. Effective cancer therapy requires a simultaneous multi-pronged attack on the cancer. Unfortunately, time is never on the patient’s side, and waiting to see if one treatment will work before initiating a second treatment type is not in the patient’s best interest. Single therapy approaches provide valuable information for research, but patients are more concerned with killing the cancer than with which agent has worked best.

Generally ignored is recent research indicating immune therapy sensitizes the cancer to chemotherapy, meaning it renders chemotherapy more effective. In addition, we have determined that immune therapy, cytokines and vaccines have a “wake-up” effect on the cancer cells, causing them to act in order to protect themselves from an outside attack. Only “active” cells are sensitive to chemotherapy.

Natural Killer Cells  and Cellular Immunobiology

Proponents of immune treatments for cancer have long anticipated the increased use of cellular immune therapy. The ability to use cellular immune components to directly attack the cancer cell is what immune therapy is about. The current treatments indirectly approach this by correcting immune imbalance and stimulating the immune system to produce those cellular components which attack cancer, such as T-cells, macrophages, etc. Actually giving the patient T-cells from an outside source is a major goal of emerging immune therapy.

This concept is not new.  It has had to await refinements and control which is now becoming possible. In the 1980s Rosenberg did pioneer studies with lymphocytes, removing them from patients, activating them and returning them to the patients, the so-called LAK cell (Lymphocyte Activated Killer cell). It is a useful treatment, though sometimes unreliable and ineffective. Newer refinements have greatly improved the treatment since Rosenberg, but it still does not give the degree of activity that we expect from immune therapy.

Dendritic cells are another approach which has shown some success, but not to the degree we know should be possible. Dendritic cells recognize cancer cells and take that information to the immune system stimulating the production of tumor specific T-cells (cytotoxic T-cells), which in turn attack the cancer cells. Dendritic cells can be cultured from the patient’s blood, grown in tissue culture and activated with cancer antigens.  When they are then reintroduced into the patient they can elicit an augmented immune response to the cancer. Dendritic cells from tissue culture do not produce as robust a response as native cells, indicating an area for improvement. Dendritic cells are also proving to be major adjuvants in cancer vaccine research.

Natural killer cells (NK cells) are a type of cytotoxic T-cell that are not specific for one cancer cell type, as are the tumor specific cells produced in response to dendritic cells. Originally NK cells were thought to simply attack cancer cells when they find them and not require activation by finding a specific cancer cell marker, hence the name natural killer cells. We now know that they are activated by lack of a cell marker that identifies the cell as “self” that is normal to the body. They are also activated by interleukin-2 and recent research has identified other activating factors. NK cell are considered to be an initial line of defense while the immune system makes tumor specific T-cells. However, due to the intensity of NK cell attack, they are receiving interest as the most promising of immune cell therapies. NK cells grown in tissue culture do not exhibit the decreased activity as tissue culture dendritic cells. Some research groups claim to have methods of further activating NK cells before reintroducing them into patients.

Recent reports of complete remissions of some cancers with NK cells has fueled the public’s interest in NK cells and generated over optimism for the treatment. Will all patients receiving NK cell therapy have a complete remission? Not in the near future. Will NK cell therapy become a major breakthrough in cancer? We believe this to be the case.

At present both dendritic and NK cell therapy offers promise, with NK cell currently having some advantage. Here at the Immune Recovery Centers of America we believe that a combined approach with both cellular therapies merits consideration. As the IRCs have found with other immune therapies, combined therapies in the proper sequence can improve response. We also believe that immune reconstitution before NK or dendritic cell therapy will enhance the ability of the immune system to maintain the NK and/or dendritic cell effect. Unfortunately such treatments in the US are classified as “clinical research” leaving patients with little option other than to go offshore. The Immune Recovery Centers maintain contact with groups researching cellular immunotherapy, and is developing strategic alliances with several laboratories to allow our patients access to such therapies. Because cellular immunotherapy offers such promise for cancer patients and is an intense area of research, we feel that treatment standards will develop which will allow more routine use in the US.