Please read : IMPORTANT INFORMATION about HITV therapy and our Clinic.
All medical services at ICVS Tokyo Clinic are by appointment only.
Conditions for HITV Therapy
HITV therapy is indicated for patients with recurrent cancer or advanced cancer diagnosed as stage IV. However, patients with early-stage cancer and those who wish to prevent recurrence, are also welcome to consult with us.
Detailed indications for individual patient like you or your loved one will be explained during the preliminary diagnosis
Who is Eligible for HITV Therapy?
Please consult with the doctor who performs this therapy (doctor who performs regenerative medicine, etc.) at ICVS Tokyo Clinic to determine whether you are eligible for the treatment.
The basic conditions for indication are as follows:
・ Advanced cancer such as recurrent cancer or stage IV, and solid cancer.
・ No diagnosis of dissemination (pleural or peritoneal dissemination, etc.)
・ For patients who have not had chemotherapy (anticancer drugs) and radiotherapy (if the tumor is sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy), the number of tumors (metastases) should not exceed 20 and the maximum tumor diameter should not exceed 3 cm.
・ If the tumor is resistant to either chemotherapy (anticancer drugs) or radiotherapy (if the tumor is sensitive to radiotherapy or chemotherapy), the number of tumors (metastases) should not exceed 5 and the maximum tumor diameter should not exceed 3 cm.
Even if the above conditions are NOT met, a certain level of therapeutic effect may be expected.
At present, the basic conditions that do NOT apply to the therapy are:
・ The tumor has become resistant to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
・ In principle, elderly people aged 90 years or older, and children under 10 years of age.
・ Patients with significant impairment in ADL (activities of daily living) (e.g., bedridden, unable to eat).
・ Patient who is unable to express own will.
The doctor in charge will be decided by the Clinic on the day of your appointment.
Theory
Immune System and Dendritic Cells
In the immune system, Dendritic Cells learn and acquire information on foreign substances to attack and convey this information to immune cells in charge of the attack. Immune cells with high attacking ability attack enemy foreign substances based on the information provided by Dendritic Cells. Therefore, in order for immune cells to mount an effective attack against foreign substances (tumor cells), it is important for Dendritic Cells to have accurate and precise information.
Method
How HITV Therapy Works
- 01Dendritic Cells are injected directly into the tumor.
- Highly antigenic cancer information enables highly precise cancer attack. In HITV therapy, Dendritic Cells are injected directly into the tumor with our unique adjuvant (a substance that activates Dendritic Cells), while confirming with CT images during the treatment.
This ICVS-unique advanced method of introducing Dendritic Cells directly into the body allows the Dendritic Cells to collectively learn and acquire information on multiple cancers in the patient's own tumor with greater accuracy and precision.
- 02Vaccinating the Tumor: Turning the tumor itself into an immune-cell-production factory.
- Dendritic Cells injected into tumors by HITV therapy recognize information on cancer cells with high precision, so that instructions to immune cells attacking cancer cells are also precise.
CTLs (killer T cells/cytotoxic T lymphocytes), which are representatives of offensive immune cells, are induced in the body around the second week after the administration of Dendritic Cells and begin to attack cancer cells based on the information from the Dendritic Cells.
Being given the precise cancer information, these CTLs continue to attack cancer cells for 24 hours restlessly. In other words, the tumor itself, directly injected with Dendritic Cells, becomes a factory that produces CTLs that attack cancer cells, resulting in the "vaccination of the tumor."
- 03Our HITV Therapy cleanses even the tiniest cancer cells: Removes cancer cells from the blood and prevents metastasis and recurrence.
- Even if a tumor mass is removed by surgery or radiation, microscopic cancer cells that cannot be identified by diagnostic imaging remain, and they migrate through the bloodstream, implant, and become cancerous. And the possibility of recurrence will not disappear unless all cancer cells in the blood are removed.
In our HITV therapy, the tumor keeps producing attacking-immune-cell CTLs, and highly accurate CTLs are constantly flowing out of the vaccinated tumor into the bloodstream, which travel throughout the body in the blood and launch a powerful attack immediately upon detection of cancer cells. This action leads to the prevention of cancer metastasis and recurrence.
Chairman, ICVS Tokyo Clinic
Kenichiro Hasumi, M.D.
