Cell Therapy for Cancer

New cancer treatments are being invented constantly, and while some work quite well and are adopted into general practice, others prove woefully inadequate. Cell therapy is one generalized category of cancer treatments that focuses upon the injection of healthy cells from other organisms to help your body stave off cancer.

Cancer

• Cancer is a blanket term referring to any unusual growth of cells that the body fails to detect and eradicate through its own defense mechanisms. As cancer cells multiply at a rate faster than healthy cells, if left unchecked they will eventually result in the death of the organism.

Cancer Treatment

• Conventional cancer treatment comes in three flavors--surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Surgery involves removing the diseased tissue manually. Chemotherapy is the injection of toxic drugs into the system to destroy the cancer cells. Radiation therapy is the application of high-intensity localized radiation to eradicate the cancerous tissue.

Cell Therapy

• Cell therapy consists of the injection of foreign cells into the patient for purposes of combating cancer. There are two basic types of cell therapy. One cell therapy is designed to function on its own as a potential cure for cancer, necessitating no additional procedural intervention. The second type is designed to function alongside traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

Stem Cell Therapy

• According to research being conducted at City of Hope and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, stem cell therapy is a potentially viable means of combating cancer. In stem cell therapy, neural stem cells are injected into the patient, which are used to amplify the effects of chemotherapy drugs on cancer cells. The neural stem cells work in tandem with the chemotherapy drugs to destroy cancer while leaving the surrounding tissue relatively unaffected.

Cell Therapy

• According to the American Cancer Society, traditional cell therapy is another often-used but unproven technique for fighting cancer. In traditional cell therapy, cells and tissue from animals are injected into the individual, with the expectant result that the injected cells will make their way to the cancerous tissue and help to heal it. Unfortunately, the ACS states that there is no real scientific evidence supporting this claim, making stem cell therapy the only really viable approach to treating cancer through cell therapy.