One more note about the DCVAX-Direct patent.
It is important to keep in mind that while Direct technology matures and selects specific dendritic cells outside the body for eventual intratumoral injection back into the body at a later date, the dendritic cells continue to mature once placed back into the body.
So maturation is continuous. First inside the body, then outside, then back inside again.
A homely analogy?
I think NWBO's analogy that their technology places the equivalent of a "teenage" dendritic cell back into the body is quite symbolic.
(In the more humorous sense, a child is raised in the home, leaves for college (or elsewhere) than invariably returns home to live in the basement.)
In the more poetic context, a child is raised in the community -- mostly by his/her family, but others as well. Upon coming of age, they sever their apron strings and enter the big-wide-world. Upon return, they share their experiences, gifts and teachings with the community. We also see this with a honey bee when it dances flower coordinates to the waiting and welcoming hive. Not being particularly religious, I am still reminded of Jesus and/or the Jews tempted or lost in the desert.
Separation from loved ones is painful, and yet it sometimes proves necessary for complete self-development and community survival. The dendritic cell may be the ultimate biological prodigal son. In fact, the dendritic cell is often cryo-preserved before replacement back into the body. Upon return the father throws a party for his wayward son's jubilant return. His sibling asks his father, why do you celebrate my brother's return when I have been responsible and present all along? The answer a dendritic father may give his first-born may go like this: "For this, my dendritic son, who was cryo-preserved, is living again; he had gone away from me, and has come back. And they were full of joy."
