***PKTX..With the great PR News of
...ProtoKinetix and Proactive Immune Sciences Announce a Joint Research Collaboration Using AAGP in Immune Cell Cryopreservation Testing…
..This is a little information into what Immunotherapy is…
• IMMUNOTHERAPY •
***Restoring Anti-Cancer Immunoreactivity..
..The adaptive immune system evolved to identify and eliminate infectious organisms and any cells that have been invaded and damaged by pathogens. As an inevitable consequence of normal aging, the immune system is subject to malfunction, mutation and failure, underlying an enormous spectrum of illness including cancer and autoimmune diseases.
..Increasing exponentially from age 45, cancer and other immune related illnesses are responsible for more than 50% of all deaths. Numerous, sporadic cancer causing mutations are now recognized which cannot be effectively targeted using conventional drugs. As such, evoking or restoring anti-cancer immunoreactivity will be a key component of future cancer treatments.
..Unique to each person, like a genetic “fingerprint,” the adaptive immune system develops a “memory” of everything it encounters and provides surveillance against cells that have incurred genetic mutations which can eventually lead to cancer. Immunoreactivity against mutated cells fights cancer by preventing tumors from initiating, and by impeding the progression of established tumors.
***Advances in Adoptive Cell Therapy..
..Intensive research is being focused on developing cancer immunotherapies, as it is well established that patients with tumors infiltrated by T cells and B cells survive longer.
..The most common cancer immunotherapy approach is called Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT), in which T cells and B cells are isolated from a surgically removed tumor, grown in the laboratory to increase their numbers, then re-administered to the individual from which they were obtained in order to improve the anti-tumor immune response.
..In the United States there are nearly 200 adoptive cell therapy clinical trials for cancer that are currently active or pending. Recently, ACT protocols have begun to include genetic engineering of lymphocytes prior to re-administration. For example, autologous T cells can be reprogrammed with genes encoding Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) that improve the ability of T cells to recognize and kill tumor cells that have become resistant to other treatments.
..The uses for engineered autologous immune cells in cancer and for other medical applications are expanding rapidly. Having a source of banked, healthy and viable immune cells will help ensure individuals can maximally benefit from these advances.
