Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is one of the most common B-cell malignancies in adults, characterized by an accumulation of monoclonal CD5 mature B cells in lymphoid tissues and the peripheral blood. Clonal expansion and invasive migration typically causes the lymph nodes, spleen, and the bone marrow to become infiltrated with tumor. Current standard therapy combines chemotherapy with an an...

Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and tumor-infiltrating lympho cytes (TIL) of a patient with von Hippel-Lindau disease and renal cell carcinoma were studied for the T-cell receptor ßchain variable region (TCR-Vß) repertoire. The patient was vaccinated with irradiated autologous tumor cells from a renal tumor mass, a vaccine-draining lymph node was removed, and lymphocytes were cultured in t...

Epilepsy is such a fascinating and enigmatic condition to study. Not only are seizures common on a population basis, they commonly feature among a range of structural, metabolic, and inflammatory disorders. An attempt to understand the etiology of the epilepsies underpins the 2010 International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classification and yet there are many incongruities that mean our curr...

Immune-based cancer therapies have demonstrated benefit in multiple clinical trials. The interest in using recombinant bacteria as vaccine vectors for active cancer immunotherapy derives in part from their ability to stimulate multiple innate immune pathways and, at the same time, to effectively deliver antigen for presentation to the adaptive immune system. We have developed a vaccine platform...

Bisphosphonate is the collective name for compounds in which the backbone of pyrophosphoric acid, a P-O-P structure, is converted to chemically stable P-C-P, and this structure shows the affinity of bisphosphonate for bone hydroxyapatite in the body (Fleisch et al. 2002). Administered bisphosphonate preparations (BPs) transfer to and deposit in bone, exhibiting a bone resorption-inhibitory effe...

Background: The Wilm’s tumor gene 1 (WT1) encodes a zinc finger transcription factor that is inactivated in a subset of Wilm’s tumors. It plays a crucial role in growth, proliferation and development of some embryonic and adult organs. WT1 is expressed as a tumor associated antigen (TAA) in various types of solid and hematopoietic malignancies and can be employed as a useful marker for targeted...

Macrophage activating factor (GcMAF) functions physiologically to boost the superoxide-generating, phagocytic, and cancerocidal capacities of macrophages; it is generated from vitamin D binding protein by lymphocyte beta-galactosidase and sialidase activities up-regulated by inflammation. Many and possibly most cancers secrete an N-acetylgalactosaminidase – a.k.a. nagalase – that prevents the s...

HM The concept of immunotherapy is not a new one. In fact, back in the 1890s, a surgeon named William Coley noticed that some patients with cancer had spontaneous tumor regressions after a severe infection. After identifying the relationship between infection-related inflammation and tumor regression, Coley undertook experiments whereby he injected patients and their tumors with bacteria—and la...

For many patients an unexplained seizure is among the earliest symptoms of a growing primary brain tumor. These tumors originate from glial cells or their progenitors in the brain and are often referred to as glioma. In approximately 30% of patients seizures recur spontaneously giving rise to tumor associated epilepsy [1]. While these fits are generally well controlled by antiepileptic medicati...

C ancer cells have something that every prisoner longs for—a master key that allows them to escape. Jean et al. describe how a kinase that promotes tumor growth enables cancer cells to use this key (1). Unless it can enter a blood or lymphatic vessel, a cancer cell is imprisoned in the tissue where it arises. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the tumor cell’s master key. The growth f...