{"id":142,"date":"2016-06-07T21:43:07","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T21:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/?p=142"},"modified":"2016-06-07T21:43:07","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T21:43:07","slug":"immune-therapy-a-new-twist-on-treating-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/immune-therapy-a-new-twist-on-treating-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Immune Therapy: A New Twist on Treating Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Marcel Hernandez, ND<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Scientists studying cancer treatment are optimistic that new approaches involving immunotherapy will be more effective than radiation.<\/p>\n

\"Marcel

Dr. Marcel Hernandez, ND<\/p><\/div>\n

The scientists are studying ways to improve the cancer-defending ability of the body\u2019s T-cells.<\/p>\n

T-cells are a type of white blood cell that specializes in finding and destroying unwelcome foreign invaders <\/strong>such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and cancer. The T-cells are the body\u2019s heroic first defense against cancer \u2013 so, the more T-cells the better.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The T-cells are covered with finger-like receptors that enable them to identify cells that threaten the body. The following microphotograph shows T-cells latching onto a cancer cell in preparation for attacking it:<\/p>\n

\"t-cells-attack-cancer\"<\/p>\n

When our immune system is functioning properly, the T-cell receptors can call upon reinforcements to help defend the body. The T-cell soldiers then latch onto the invader cells and make holes through which they shoot toxic granules, neutralizing the threat.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there are only a few T-cell types that can identify and destroy cancer cells. But the FDA recently approved three new immunotherapy drugs, called PD-1 inhibitors, that help the T-cells overcome the cancer cells\u2019 defenses and keep destroying the cells indefinitely. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cancer cells attack the body\u2019s T-cell defenses by producing a protein that limits a substance in the T-cells called programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), thus turning off the T\u2011cells. The new drugs bind to PD-1 and prevent the cancer cells from curtailing T-cell production. And more T-cells means more cancer fighters.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Cheng, executive director of clinical oncology at Merck, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cChemotherapy almost always stops working. The promise of immune therapy is that you\u2019re training the immune system [itself] to attack something foreign, so you are able to maintain that activity for a very long time, hopefully for the rest of the patient\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds promising. Will there be unwelcome side effects of the new drugs? None have been discovered so far, and clinical trials with cancer patients are underway.<\/p>\n

Read more about T-cells HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Marcel Hernandez, ND Scientists studying cancer treatment are optimistic that new approaches involving immunotherapy will be more effective than radiation. The scientists are studying ways to improve the cancer-defending ability of the body\u2019s T-cells. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that specializes in finding and destroying unwelcome foreign invaders such as bacteria, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-cancer-treatments","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hernandezcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}