New therapy induces body's own cells to destroy cancerous tumors

New therapy induces body's own cells to destroy cancerous tumors


(NaturalNews) Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have developed a technique that induces the body's own immune cells to attack and destroy cancerous tumors.

The
therapy is part of a new approach in cancer treatment that seeks to
mobilize the body's own immune system to remove the disease, preferably
with fewer risks and side effects than more conventional and invasive
treatments like surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Immune therapies are
already in use against prostate cancer and melanoma.

In this
case, the immune therapy focuses on cells called natural killer (NK)
cells, which are specialized for finding and destroying defective bodily
cells, including cancer cells. They are effective against a wide
variety of cancer types, including cells that are often ignored by other
parts of the immune system. But having NK cells obviously doesn't make
us immune to cancer, and that's because the cells are only effective
against small clusters of cancerous cells. Against solid tumors, they
quickly lose their aggressiveness and eventually give up.

"The
big problem in using NK cells for therapy is their rapid loss of
activity, hence their aggressiveness," researcher Adelheid Cerwenka
said. "Although there are good treatment results for certain types of
blood cancer, NK cells have been clinically effective in fighting solid
tumors only in a few cases."

Persistent and effective response

The
researchers cultured NK cells from mice in a dish, along with a
cocktail of three natural immune-boosting mediators (interleukins 12,
15, and 18). The cells were then injected into cancerous mice.

The treated NK cells
remained persistently active far beyond the time when they would
normally have lost their aggressiveness. Tumor growth significantly
slowed in all the injected mice, and in 25 percent of them, the tumors
completely regressed. In mice injected with non-treated NK cells, none of these effects were observed.

The
researchers then repeated the test with human cell cultures, finding
that the treated NK cells remained persistently active there as well.

To
the researchers' surprise, other immune cells in the mice continued to
re-stimulate the treated NK cells, allowing them to remain active three
months after injection even in cases where the tumors had been
completely eliminated. This suggests that somehow, the NK cells were
able to "remember" the recent presence of cancer and remained on the alert as a result.

"We previously thought immunological memory exists only in cells of the adaptive immune system," Cerwenka said.

The
adaptive immune system responds to highly individualized threats, such
as a specific virus with a unique protein signature. It is known to
possess a "memory" of all threats it has previously responded to, but
this effect has not before been seen in the innate system, which
responds to more general threats.

The researchers noted that even
the treated NK cells were only effective in mice that had previously
undergone radiation treatment. They could not explain why this was the
case.

"The good thing is that we might be able to achieve this
effect in a potential clinical application by combining the
cocktail-treated NK cells with radiation therapy," Cerwenka said.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/039987_cancer_tumors_cell_therapy_technology.html