Autologous Immune Enhancement Therapy (AIET) in Oncology
In the multi-prolonged approach to treat cancer, the latest scientific advancement has yielded AIET. Consequently, patients with cancer can choose non-toxic therapies like AIET, also known as, Biological therapy. AIET has a successful clinical history in Japan for the past two decades.
AIET is a safe and effective mode to fight cancer by enhancing the immune system. The efficacy rate is further enhanced when AIET is combined with the present available therapies as per patient's condition, type of cancer and regimen of chemo/ radio therapies.
The name AIET was coined for the following reasons:
1. The term “AUTOLOGOUS” signifies that the patient’s own immune cells are used.
2. Serum from the patient’s own blood is also used to culture cells obtained from the same source.
3. In this approach, there are no foreign components. Therefore it is a safe mode of treatment without adverse reactions (eg rejection or allergy) and do not require the use of immune suppressors.
The term “immune enhancement” signifies the direct boosting of the immune system by cultivating the isolated immune cells of the patient in the lab and expanding the numbers by multifold before transfusing it back into the patient to yield maximum results.
The cell-based immunotherapy expansion approach in the lab using Natural Killer Cells (NK) and Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL’s) has been mastered by Dr Hiroshi Terunuma and his team starting from early 90’s. The Biotherapy Institute of Japan started the therapy in 2000 and has treated more than 10,000 patients to date with no adverse reactions reported.
There are three requirements for an effective immunotherapy for cancer: (i) A sufficient number of the appropriate tumour reactive lymphocytes (cancer fighting cells) must be present in the peripheral blood of the patients, (ii) Lymphocytes must be capable of reaching the site of the cancer, and (iii) Lymphocytes at the tumour site must have appropriate effector mechanism (eg production of cytotoxic granules) to destroy cancer cells.
Research, clinical trials and established clinical treatment methodologies for cancer using immunotherapy have also been reported from institutions in other parts of the world. Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn Bhd (NiSCELL) has taken the initiative to introduce AIET to Malaysia for the first time. This is done with technical collaboration with GN Corporation Japan, Biotherapy institute Japan, and Nichi In Center for Regenerative Medicine India.
AIET and Cancer:
Activated immune cells have the ability to recognize cancer cells and kill them. A single NK cell can destroy up to 27 cancer cells before it dies.
Dosage Requirements:
The patient may require multiple transfusions depending on the clinicians advise and patient's condition (i.e. type & stage of cancer, patient's health status and medication).
Good results have been noted in:
-Renal Cancer (Kidney)
-Malignant Melanoma (Skin)
-Advanced Pancreatic Tumors
-Leukemia (Blood Cancer)
-Lymphoma
-Breast Cancer
-Ovarian Cancer
-Lung Metastasis
Limitation of AIET
A major limitation to the development of effective lymphocyte transfer therapies for patients with cancer has been the inability to mediate the prolonged persistence of the transferred cells. A pilot clinical trial in 13 patients with metastatic melanoma studied by Dudley and colleagues suggested that conditioning with non-myeloablative chemotherapy before adoptive transfer of activated tumour-reactive T cells enhances tumour regression and increases the overall rates of objective clinical responses.
The study demonstrated that there was a significant correlation between tumour regression and the degree of persistence in peripheral blood of adoptively transferred T cell clones, suggesting that inadequate T cell persistence may represent a major factor limiting responses to AIET.
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