Store My Tumor Cancer vaccines can extend your life
I
t might not be something you want to keep at home in the refrigerator, but experts are touting a new potential cancer treatment that involves storing peoples’ tumors. The company is called Store My Tumor, and that’s exactly what they do. Here’s how it works. Your tumor is removed and stored cryogenically — alive — at the company’s facility in Philadelphia, they are affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Usually, when a tumor is removed, it’s discarded. However, researchers have found that each person’s tumor is unique and contains important genetic information that can help increase the number of treatment options available. For example, without your tumor sample, cancer treatment is pretty much limited to chemotherapy and radiation. When doctors have the living tumor to work with, they are able to consider alternatives such as chemo-sensitivity testing, which tests out the chemo on your tumor cells first, to see how it’s going to work for that patient, before submitting your actual body to the procedure. There’s also the potential for developing a custom cancer vaccine for that person, harnessing T-Cells to help boost the immune system, and utilizing genetic sequencing to identify and target cancer cells — allowing doctors to better match the right drug or other treatment to attack just the cancer cells and spare the healthy ones. The development of these ‘cancer vaccines’ especially has shown extremely positive results for many patients. Basically, like all vaccines, this method uses the living cancer cells to ‘farm’ the natural immune system antibodies which are then injected into the body, recognize the enemy (cancer cells) and attack
ACTUAL RESULTS* Progression-free survival at 6 months Time to progression
them. It’s important to have the plan in place with both Store My Tumor and your hospital or clinic so that cells are harvested and preserved correctly and forwarded to the storage facility. The best time to consider this kind of treatment is as soon as possible after surgery and chemotherapy as it boosts the immune system rapidly, extending time in remission and decreasing the chances of recurrence (see chart). In fact, according to Store My Tumor spokesperson Pat deGrouchy, 90 per cent of their patients are interested in the cancer vaccines, with more than 50 per cent using their stored tumor within the first year. As an added bonus, the vaccines are non-toxic, with none of the major side effects experienced with chemo or radiation. One of their patients, Emma, probably puts it best: “I am so glad to have found Store My Tumor. It allowed me to receive my colorectal cancer surgery next to my family, in Toronto, then later participate in Vaccine + Chemo Chemo (alone) a personalized whole tumor vaccine treatment 76% 45% in Germany.” DM 15 months 6 months
1-year survival
100% 60%
2-year survival
75% 47%
*Tanyi et al, J Clin Oncol 33, 2015 (suppl; abstr 5519) ASCO meeting June 2015
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