IV drip of 100 billion immune cells helps fight tumors and eliminate cancer with cellular immunotherapy

A striking recovery after a therapy involving 148 billion immune cells fought 7 tumors, and staying cancer-free for 7 years. This is the story of how Celine Ryan overcame cancer.

 

 

148 billion immune cells vs 7 tumors

 

 

 

In 2013, Ms. Ryan was unfortunately diagnosed with advanced colon cancer at the age of nearly 50. Originally, she hoped to be cured through surgery to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy to kill the remaining cancer cells. But she had obviously underestimated the danger of cancer. Surgery and chemotherapy did provide some relief, but the cancer soon metastasized to both lungs, with about ten metastases of different size. She was told she faced a bleak survival rate, and there were no better options available than to continue chemotherapy.

 

After researching the internet for more alternatives, Ms. Ryan finally found hope.

 

What she found is an ongoing clinical trial of immunotherapy conducted by Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., of America’s National Cancer Institute. Professor Rosenberg's clinical study of the immunotherapy, called TILs (tumor infiltrating lymphocytes), has been proven by published data to help 20-25% of patients with metastatic melanoma achieve persistent and complete regression.

 

 

 

Ms. Ryan then decided to try this new therapy and applied to enroll in the clinical trial.

 

In April 2015, Prof. Rosenberg performed surgery on Ms. Ryan and extracted tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from the tumor tissues removed from her lungs. The TILs were then sorted into specific T-cell types and multiplied in a specialized GMP facility. Meanwhile, in the genetic sequencing analysis of the tumor tissue, Prof. Rosenberg found a large number of KRAS G12D mutations in Ms. Ryan's tumor tissues.

 

By further screening and extracting CD8+ T cells that can specifically recognize mutated KRAS G12D, what’s left were the most powerful immune cells that can precisely kill the tumor cells in Ms. Ryan’s body. Afterwards, the researchers expanded this precious batch of cells manyfold until the number eventually reached 148 billion.

 

A re-evaluation 40 days after the treatment revealed that a miracle had happened:  the tumors were already shrinking. And after another 9 months, all 7 tumors in her body had completely disappeared. To this day, Celine Ryan remains healthy, with no signs of recurrence, and doctors are amazed at what proves to be another miracle by the new immunotherapy.

 

What is immune cell therapy

 

Immune cell therapy is to collect the body's own immune cells and culture them in vitro or after modification to increase their number thousands of times and boost their vitality and enhance their ability cell function, and then transfer them back into the body to kill the cancer cells and mutated cells. Through activating and enhancing the body’s immunity, the immune cell therapy can effectively prevent the metastasis and recurrence of cancer cells.

What exactly is the therapy that gave Ms. Ryan a second chance at life?

 

As we all know, cancer cells are the result of mutation of healthy cells in the body, therefore, the body’s tumor killing specialist — T cells, can sometimes become "face blind" and fail to recognize cancer cells, making them unable to kill tumors precisely and effectively, which eventually lead to cancer. It is especially important to find the immune T cells that can kill tumors with precision.

 

TILs are a group of specialized immune cells, called tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, that gather around tumors and can penetrate deep into tumor tissue and precisely identify and kill tumor cells.

However, the number of natural TILs is too small to deal with the rapidly growing tumor tissue. Therefore, the most effective way scientists devised to fight tumors, is to multiply TILs in vitro and then infuse them back into the patient's body, and thus the TIL immunotherapy was born.

 

The FDA has now granted a breakthrough therapy designation to the TIL therapy LN-145, which is the first time a cellular immunotherapy for solid tumors receives such designation. It is also believed that the therapy will hit the market very soon. With the continued development in medical sciences, immunotherapy will surely bring benefits to more tumor patients.  

 

 

 

The role of immune cells in fighting cancer has been constantly expanding and has brought new hopes to many cancer patients. However, immune cells, just like human beings, also age and weaken with time. Therefore, besides leveraging the cancer-killing power of immune cells, it is also important to preserve them properly.

 

When immune cells age, their ability to fight pathogens weakens and the body becomes more vulnerable to various pathogens. Therefore, it is important to preserve your immune cells beforehand to enhance their fighting ability and slow down their aging process.

 

Storing your immune cells when you are healthy is also an effective way to keep them active. Storing immune cells builds a strong immuno-army that can be transfused back into your body when needed to help boost your immunity and even fight diseases.