Illustrative photo (Photo: thanhnien.vn)Hanoi (VNA) - The Hanoi Medical University is acquiring immune celltherapy know-how from Japanese experts to treat cancer patients.
UniversityVice President Professor Ta Thanh Van said that this advanced treatment hasbeen used in a number of medical centres in Japan for several years now and hasproved its worth.
Threeyears ago, the Japanese government officially recognised cell therapy as acancer treatment by enacting regenerative medicine legislation.
Celltherapy, also known as cytotherapy, introduces beneficial cellular materialsinto a patient.
Theimmune system, which acts like body’s home security system, classifies itstargets into two types of alien substances that need to be fought off. Thefirst group comprises of antigens like molecules, viruses, and foreign cells.The second group comprises virus-infected or tumours.
Foreach group, the immune system adopts different measures to neutralise the‘threats.’
Withthe first group, a humoral response, or antibody-mediated response, isdeployed. This involves mostly B cells being delivered to the targets.
Inthe case of cancer, the cell-mediated response – involving mostly T cells – isdeployed to neutralise threats by the invasion of tumour cells.
However,when the immune system is compromised, the tumour cells multiply unfettered.
Celltherapy is hence used as a measure to restore the balance in the patient’simmunity, strengthen and provide facilitative conditions for the proliferationof cancer-fighting cells.
Cultivatingimmune cells
Prof.Van said that in cell therapy, 10-30ml of peripheral blood – a mixture of redblood cells, white blood cells and platelets – is drawn from the patients.
Immunecells are then isolated and cultivated in a special environment with the goalof activating its specialised function.
Aftera sufficient number of cells with the desired traits of detecting and attackingcancerous cells have been grown, they will be injected into the patient’s body,creating an immune barrier that is strong enough to keep the cancerous cells atbay, or attack them.
Currently,the therapy is considered as an effective, safer treatment without harmfulside-effects since the patients get injected with primed immune cells takenfrom their own bodies.
Doctorsat the Hanoi Medical University have, with the assistance from Japaneseexperts, extracted, cultivated and activated immune cells with a high rate ofsuccess, 93-99 percent.
Thisis considered a positive first step towards full deployment of cell therapytreatment in cancer patients.
Dr.Tran Huy Thinh of the Faculty of Biochemistry at the Hanoi Medical Universitysaid Japanese partners have committed to transferring 100 percent of this techniqueto the university.
Celltherapy is currently used in treating solid organ cancers – malignant tumoursin the stomach, breast, lung, liver, kidney, colon, among others. Blood cancercannot be treated with cell therapy.
InJapan, more than 80 percent of people receiving immune cell therapy last yearwere late-stage cancer (stage IIIB and IV) patients.
Usingthis therapy in combination with other measures like surgery, chemotherapy, andradiation will considerably increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment, thedoctors believe.
Observedadvantages include prolonged disease-free survival (inhibited tumour growth),largely improved quality of life since the patient will not suffer a lot ofpain, and thus, will be free from the side-effects of painkillers.
Forpatients undergoing chemotherapy, the side-effects of this often-time damagingprocess can be partly alleviated by cell therapy.
Anotheradvantage of cell therapy that many will appreciate is that it has littleimpact on their daily activities. Patients can still go to work after a30-minute session, twice a week, six times in three consecutive months.
Startingthis year
Prof.Van said doctors at the medical university are exerting their best efforts tomake cell therapy a reality in Vietnam and expect to start treating cancerpatients with cell therapy this year.
Vansaid the technology transfer had actually been set in motion two years ago.
TheHanoi Medical University has sent a delegation of leading experts in molecularand cellular biomedicine to Japan, in order to receive training in celltherapy.
Theimplementation of cell therapy in Vietnam will happen under periodic monitoringby Japanese experts who will also make recommendations and consultations.
Asof now, the university has already met with requirements in terms ofinfrastructure and specialised equipment and specially qualified humanresources in order to deploy the cell therapy treatment.
“Cell therapy has been in use by the GrandsoulNara corp. since 2006. We have treated thousands of cancer patients in Japanand other countries in the region,” said Yoshinobu Matsuo, who works for theGrandsoul Nara Clinic in Japan.
“Statisticsshow the success rate of cancer containment at 54.4 percent; however, it is avery safe treatment. In 10 years of implementation, no significant side effectsor complications have been observed so far.”
Hecited a few examples. After treatment, the tumour showed signs of shrinking ina 75-year-old patient whose liver cancer had spread to the lungs. The samething happened to a 64-year-old male patient whose cancer had metastasized, aswell as a 30-year-old kidney cancer patient.
Vansaid a detailed proposal and programme plan is being prepared by theuniversity’s biomedical ethics council to submit to Ministry of Health so as toget permission to conduct cell therapy on cancer patients. He is hopeful ofgetting the ministry’s approval, he added.
Accordingto the National Institute for Cancer Control, more than 160,000 new cancerpatients are detected every year. There are 115,000 cancer deaths ever year.
Themost frequently diagnosed cancers in men are lung, stomach, liver, colon, andrectum cancers – accounting for 42,000 cases per year.
Themost frequently diagnosed cancers in women are breast, lung, colorectal andcervix cancers – accounting for 30,000 cases per year.-VNA
UniversityVice President Professor Ta Thanh Van said that this advanced treatment hasbeen used in a number of medical centres in Japan for several years now and hasproved its worth.
Threeyears ago, the Japanese government officially recognised cell therapy as acancer treatment by enacting regenerative medicine legislation.
Celltherapy, also known as cytotherapy, introduces beneficial cellular materialsinto a patient.
Theimmune system, which acts like body’s home security system, classifies itstargets into two types of alien substances that need to be fought off. Thefirst group comprises of antigens like molecules, viruses, and foreign cells.The second group comprises virus-infected or tumours.
Foreach group, the immune system adopts different measures to neutralise the‘threats.’
Withthe first group, a humoral response, or antibody-mediated response, isdeployed. This involves mostly B cells being delivered to the targets.
Inthe case of cancer, the cell-mediated response – involving mostly T cells – isdeployed to neutralise threats by the invasion of tumour cells.
However,when the immune system is compromised, the tumour cells multiply unfettered.
Celltherapy is hence used as a measure to restore the balance in the patient’simmunity, strengthen and provide facilitative conditions for the proliferationof cancer-fighting cells.
Cultivatingimmune cells
Prof.Van said that in cell therapy, 10-30ml of peripheral blood – a mixture of redblood cells, white blood cells and platelets – is drawn from the patients.
Immunecells are then isolated and cultivated in a special environment with the goalof activating its specialised function.
Aftera sufficient number of cells with the desired traits of detecting and attackingcancerous cells have been grown, they will be injected into the patient’s body,creating an immune barrier that is strong enough to keep the cancerous cells atbay, or attack them.
Currently,the therapy is considered as an effective, safer treatment without harmfulside-effects since the patients get injected with primed immune cells takenfrom their own bodies.
Doctorsat the Hanoi Medical University have, with the assistance from Japaneseexperts, extracted, cultivated and activated immune cells with a high rate ofsuccess, 93-99 percent.
Thisis considered a positive first step towards full deployment of cell therapytreatment in cancer patients.
Dr.Tran Huy Thinh of the Faculty of Biochemistry at the Hanoi Medical Universitysaid Japanese partners have committed to transferring 100 percent of this techniqueto the university.
Celltherapy is currently used in treating solid organ cancers – malignant tumoursin the stomach, breast, lung, liver, kidney, colon, among others. Blood cancercannot be treated with cell therapy.
InJapan, more than 80 percent of people receiving immune cell therapy last yearwere late-stage cancer (stage IIIB and IV) patients.
Usingthis therapy in combination with other measures like surgery, chemotherapy, andradiation will considerably increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment, thedoctors believe.
Observedadvantages include prolonged disease-free survival (inhibited tumour growth),largely improved quality of life since the patient will not suffer a lot ofpain, and thus, will be free from the side-effects of painkillers.
Forpatients undergoing chemotherapy, the side-effects of this often-time damagingprocess can be partly alleviated by cell therapy.
Anotheradvantage of cell therapy that many will appreciate is that it has littleimpact on their daily activities. Patients can still go to work after a30-minute session, twice a week, six times in three consecutive months.
Startingthis year
Prof.Van said doctors at the medical university are exerting their best efforts tomake cell therapy a reality in Vietnam and expect to start treating cancerpatients with cell therapy this year.
Vansaid the technology transfer had actually been set in motion two years ago.
TheHanoi Medical University has sent a delegation of leading experts in molecularand cellular biomedicine to Japan, in order to receive training in celltherapy.
Theimplementation of cell therapy in Vietnam will happen under periodic monitoringby Japanese experts who will also make recommendations and consultations.
Asof now, the university has already met with requirements in terms ofinfrastructure and specialised equipment and specially qualified humanresources in order to deploy the cell therapy treatment.
“Cell therapy has been in use by the GrandsoulNara corp. since 2006. We have treated thousands of cancer patients in Japanand other countries in the region,” said Yoshinobu Matsuo, who works for theGrandsoul Nara Clinic in Japan.
“Statisticsshow the success rate of cancer containment at 54.4 percent; however, it is avery safe treatment. In 10 years of implementation, no significant side effectsor complications have been observed so far.”
Hecited a few examples. After treatment, the tumour showed signs of shrinking ina 75-year-old patient whose liver cancer had spread to the lungs. The samething happened to a 64-year-old male patient whose cancer had metastasized, aswell as a 30-year-old kidney cancer patient.
Vansaid a detailed proposal and programme plan is being prepared by theuniversity’s biomedical ethics council to submit to Ministry of Health so as toget permission to conduct cell therapy on cancer patients. He is hopeful ofgetting the ministry’s approval, he added.
Accordingto the National Institute for Cancer Control, more than 160,000 new cancerpatients are detected every year. There are 115,000 cancer deaths ever year.
Themost frequently diagnosed cancers in men are lung, stomach, liver, colon, andrectum cancers – accounting for 42,000 cases per year.
Themost frequently diagnosed cancers in women are breast, lung, colorectal andcervix cancers – accounting for 30,000 cases per year.-VNA
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