- Make It Yourself Lavender Heart-Shaped Bath Bombs!
- 20 Things You Never Knew About “Down There”
- 12 Best Foods For Those Suffering From Arthritis Pain
- 12 Personal Hygiene Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes (Mom Never Told You About #4!)
- 15 Medicinal Plants And Herbs From The Cherokee People
- 12 Mind-Blowing Benefits Of Drinking Coconut Water During Pregnancy
- 12 Outstanding Winter Foods That Won’t Fatten You Up Like A Christmas Turkey
Immunotherapy – What Is It and How Could It Save Our Lives?
Photo credit: bigstock.com
Even with all of the illnesses and diseases that face us on a regular basis, one thing remains truer today more than ever: The human body is an amazing vehicle and is able to tackle and destroy the bad cells that claim our body while leaving the more than 30 trillion healthy cells alone.
The ability of our bodies to recognize cancerous cells and destroy them has been called immunotherapy. It is a process that is being refined in order to take into account the way the body can recognize cancerous cells, especially those that return after originally being destroyed.
It seems that our bodies are smart but cancer cells are just a little bit smarter. When our bodies detect a foreign cell, our immune system kicks in and produces antibodies that will bind themselves to the antigens of the foreign cell. Sometimes the foreign cell is immediately recognized and noted to be destroyed.
The problem is that like the foreign cells, cancer cells are also able to produce antigens. The problem lies in the fact that without the antibodies binding to them they are able to evade the immune system that marks them for destruction. The result is that they are able to avoid destruction while they continue to thrive in an otherwise healthy body without any chance of being detected and destroyed.
What is being done to improve our immune system?
There are currently immunotherapy drugs that are created in a laboratory and simulate the antibodies as they bind themselves to the cancerous cells so they will be identified to be killed off.
Another issue is the fact that the cancer cells continue to have protein levels that are able to get past the immune system so they are not marked for destruction. The immunotherapy drugs are able to see through this process, see the normal proteins, and mark them for destruction. While not a cure, these antibody drugs are extremely expensive for those interested in adding this therapy to their treatment. The price tag is currently more than $100K.
What is in the works, and is much more affordable, is the development of vaccines that come in single shots that will achieve the same results. These shots would be able to teach the immune system how to find the antigens on the cancer cells so that they could inoculate patient against the specific type of cancer now, and for several years to come. The best part is that this solution is under $1,000 for each patient.
Out of a clinical trial consisting of 24 terminal cancer patients, 10 were able to battle their cancer positively so they were able to return for a 6-month booster. Another patient has made it to the 3-year mark. These trials have shown to have had very few side effects and no sign of toxicity.
Continue to Page 2
