Overview

IDCT is a personalized cancer treatment that leverages the body’s immune system through the activation of dendritic cells to fight cancer more effectively. Importantly, it is not enough to just use dendritic cells, but to use them correctly if a complete and optimal immune response is desired. That includes Immunocine’s patented “double loading” technology, which has been validated by multiple peer reviewed scientific and medical publications, issued patents, and FDA-sanctioned clinical trials (which has led to a “Fast Track” opportunity in the US).

Science Behind IDCT

Detailed information on how dendritic cells, a type of immune cell, are used in IDCT. Dendritic cells have been studied since the 1970’s, and are well accepted as the “generals” of the immune system “army.” It is their job to detect and identify threats, and then orchestrate the optimal physiological immune response to eliminate it. In the case of cancer, immune ignorance has unfortunately occurred, in which the immune system and its dendritic cells are simply unaware of the threat. A person’s best defense is literally sitting on the sideline. The Immunocine science is not about what is added to the dendritic cells to activate them, but how it is added. The target (the patient’s cancer DNA) needs to be introduced to the patient’s dendritic cells—both internally and externally—at the same time, to activate a natural mechanism in which the dendritic cells become educated, activated, and enlightened to the threat that needs to be eliminated with a Th1 immune response (e.g., the response needed to eliminate infected or mutated cells). This process sounds simplistic, and in a sense, it is (because it is in fact basic biology). But the process is quite complex, fine-tuned, tightly controlled, and not something anyone else can do.

A few components to the Immunocine process are:

• The dendritic cells are extracted from the patient and are properly skewed towards a Th1 phenotype
• The dendritic cells are uniquely ‘double loaded’ with the patient’s tumor material,which leads to a uniquely and optimally educated and activated result
• The dendritic cells are introduced back into the patient, near functional and draining lymph nodes. The dendritic cells are introduced following well established immune kinetics
• A population of ‘killer’ cells are stimulated from these unique dendritic cells and a heightened immune ‘memory’ is resultant from this treatment

Benefits of IDCT

The only thing we know of that can be specific enough to try and counteract a tumor population is the patient’s own immune system. Blunt objects like chemotherapy are typically incapable of this due to a different mechanism of action. Most treatments are mono-focused, looking at one antigen, one receptor, or one whatever. But as cancer learns what is being targeted, it can get rid of it, and thus become invisible again. Dendritic cells are capable of broadly targeting multiple neoantigens expressed by a tumor. This makes it harder for cancer to become invisible again. Chemotherapies are designed typically to kill off dividing cells. Because cancers are rapidly dividing, this type of treatment can delay or prevent that cancer growth. But of course, this also inhibits the division and proliferation of healthy cells, causing collateral damage. Radiation is blunt by design and can easily miss cancer cells. These older and conventional treatments can be helpful, and they were very helpful in Justin’s case, but cancer patients benefit from dendritic cell activation because the older treatments do nothing to educate the patient’s defense system against the cancer. IDCT is currently available in the USA in clinical trials for a select few types of cancer. It will take years for the treatment to get out of the clinical trial phase, it is also important to note that IDCT is not able to treat blood cancers, but it is available to treat all “solid tumor” cancers at Immunocine’s cancer center in Cancun Mexico, where Justin was treated.