Immuno-cell therapy is developed under the concept in connection to efficient use of general function of body, so-called as immune system. The immune system is generally functioned to protect human body from disease by identifying and attacking abnormal cells, such as cancer cells and virus-infected cells. Therefore, the immuno-cell therapy is to improve patient’s immunity by using patient’s own immuno-cells (autologous cells,) which are activated and proliferated through cell-processing outside of his/her body, in order to attack the abnormal cells, effectively.

Immuno-cell therapy is classified as a cell therapy as well as a regenerative medicine represented by cultured skin and cartilage, and stem cell transplant, and includes various types of immuno-cell therapy by different functions of immuno-cells. (See “Immuno-Cell Therapies”)

A remarkable characteristic of immuno-cell therapy is that the therapy has no adverse reaction in essence, as the therapy gives few damages to the patient’s body owing to the use of the patient-derived cells (autologous cells.) Therefore, it enables patients to receive a treatment without staying in hospital, so-called as outpatient-based treatment.

Immuno-cell therapy has already been applied clinically as a systemic treatment in cancer treatment in order to keep patient’s QOL (Quality of Life) at higher level. University hospitals and other medical institutions carry out active basic research and technical development of immuno-cell therapy for improvement of its efficacy and safety.

Cancer is a disease difficult to cure without detection and immediate treatment at early stages of the cancer, and is also represented as a refractory disease which is the primary cause of death among Japanese individuals. At present, there are three major therapies of surgery (surgical operation), radiotherapy, and chemotherapy (anticancer drugs,) so-called as “standard therapy,” in cancer treatment, and hormone therapy is also applied for some cancers as a standard therapy. Although all of those standard therapies are technically and clinically developed/improved day by day, those therapies cannot cure late stages of cancer by sole treatment. Therefore, a combination therapy among those standard therapies is generally to be conducted for late stages of cancer.

Treatment options of those standard therapies vary among types and stages of cancer, and remarkable characteristics of each standard therapy are also different. For example, it is anticipated that surgical resection can cure locally-limited cancer as a primary standard therapy. Radiotherapy can be conducted as a primary standard therapy to kill cancer cells in some regional cancers, which resection is not possible. However, in general, many cancers tend to be either metastatic or advanced cases which cannot be managed by local therapies such as surgery and radiotherapy. Therefore, the only alternative treatment for the metastatic and advanced cancers is to rely on chemotherapy (anticancer drugs) which can show effectiveness against systemic cancers. On the other hand, many kinds of anticancer drugs entail extremely strong adverse drug reactions (ADRs,) so that it remains a great need in the public to develop new anticancer drugs with minimal ADRs, or other more useful systemic treatments.
As a consequence of such great need in the public, immuno-cell therapy is developed to minimize/ prevent strong ADRs as an advanced systemic treatment, which focuses on using mechanisms of immune response to cancer cells.

Humans are naturally born with immune system which can recognize any foreign objects, such as viruses or other pathogen, as “non-self,” and can remove these objects. Lymphocytes and other immune cells, presented in the blood, play essential roles in this function of human body. For example, cancer and other illness break out when power balance between immunity and non-self in the body shifts in favour of cancer or virus.(non-self) Immuno-cell therapy is a treatment which gives substantial artificial activation to immune system to shift power balance toward immunity, and thereby eliminates cancer cells or suppresses their growth. In medical practice, the process of the immuno-cell therapy is as followed;-

If most of cancer mass is eliminated by surgery or radiotherapy, power balance can once again be largely shifted in favour of immune cells. However, since it is impossible to remove invisible sized-cancer, a potential for subsequent progression or recurrence always remains.

Although chemotherapy can diminish strength of cancer in a relatively short period of time, it is difficult to completely eliminate cancer by sole treatment. In addition, bone marrow suppression, caused by chemotherapy, damages immune system and is connected to raise higher risk of infection. Temporary tumor-reducing effect can be seen by the chemotherapy, whereas it cannot shift power balance toward immune cells, and a potential for subsequent progression or recurrence remains in this treatment.

When cancer cells have grown at visible size, strength of immune cells is suppressed by the cancer cells. Even if sole treatment of immuno-cell therapy can inhibit cancer progression, it cannot shrink cancer in a short period of time without substantial enhancement of immune system.

Consequently, since immuno-cell therapy is applied after removal of cancer by surgery and radiation, it is expected that this combination therapy can be the most rational approach in cancer treatment, and can show certain clinical effect.

Comparison between immuno-cell therapy and other standard therapies are as followed;-