Our bodies have a defense system called "immunity" that protects us not only from external threats such as bacteria and viruses, but also from the cancer cells that arise within the body every day. Immunity is broadly divided into two types: innate immunity (the first line of defense, which quickly detects and handles abnormalities) and adaptive immunity (which remembers threats and responds specifically the next time).

In a healthy state, the immune system continuously recognizes these "cancer cells born every day" as foreign and removes them. However, if immune function declines, the system can no longer keep up, leading to the development of cancer. Furthermore, since immune function naturally declines with age, the risk of infections and cancer rises with age as well.

Immune cells that have fought cancer cells for a long time gradually become exhausted, and receptors called "immune checkpoint molecules" appear on their cell surface. By binding to these receptors, cancer cells put the brakes on the immune attack and evade elimination.

In 2018, Dr. Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that elucidated exactly this mechanism. The immune checkpoint inhibitor (PD-1 inhibitor) he developed works by occupying the receptor before cancer cells can apply the brakes, restoring the immune cells' ability to attack cancer again. This discovery brought cancer immunotherapy to a new stage. Dr. Honjo continues to lead research today as director of Kyoto University's Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and Immunobiology.

Immune cell therapy is broadly classified into vaccine therapy and lymphocyte therapy.

Immune cell therapy can be performed for almost all types of cancer except some blood cancers, and is generally not restricted by stage. Earlier introduction is preferable, and the patient's overall physical condition affects treatment outcomes.

Autologous cancer vaccine therapy is a treatment that uses a vaccine made from the patient's own cancer tissue to trigger an immune response against the cancer. The vaccine, created outside the body, "educates" lymphocytes, with the goal of increasing the number of cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) within the body that specifically attack cancer cells.

This therapy originated from basic research published by Dr. Tadao Ohno, former head of the Cell Bank Development Office at RIKEN, demonstrating that a vaccine made from formalin- and paraffin-fixed tissue could induce CTLs (Nature Medicine, 1995). The current treatment protocol was subsequently established through clinical trials at the Departments of Neurosurgery at the University of Tsukuba and Tokyo Women's Medical University.

Even for patients who have already had surgery, vaccine production may be possible if a pathology specimen (paraffin block) has been preserved. Please consult us first.

Activated T-Lymphocyte Therapy (ALT) is an immune cell therapy in which T lymphocytes are taken from the patient's own blood, expanded and activated several thousand-fold outside the body, and then returned to the body. Research began in the 1970s, and this long-established treatment has continually improved in safety and efficacy alongside advances in cell culture technology.

T lymphocytes play a role in finding and attacking cancer cells within the body. However, their number and activity can decline due to cancer progression, aging, stress, and other factors. By expanding a large number of activated T lymphocytes outside the body and returning them via IV drip, the goal is to intensively boost the attack on cancer cells.