Issue 2 | March 2018
Our understanding of cancer is growing exponentially each year, and each year we have new forms of treatments and diagnoses. One of the most promising new life-saving advancements in cancer care is immunotherapy, which is a way to use your body's own immune system to eliminate your cancer. Sounds too good to be true? Read below to find out how it works.
Top Life-Saving Advancements in Cancer:
Immunotherapy
IMMUNOTHERAPY: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

See how CTOAM has used Immunotherapy - check out Mark and Betty ’s stories.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology voted immunothereapy as its top overall clinical advance for 2016 and 2017. So what is it?

Immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to treat cancer. The body’s immune system uses a “series checkpoint” to determine if cells are normal or a threat. Some forms of cancer bond with proteins similar to normal cells, which acts like a cloaking shield for the immune system. Immunotherapy medication inhibits the cancer cells from bonding with those proteins, effectively deactivating the cloaking shield, and allowing the body’s own immune system to kill the cancer cells. The American Cancer Society has deemed that immunotherapies "have already become an important part of the treatment for many cancers.”
How is this life-saving?

Immunotherapy treatment allows the body’s own immune system to find the cells with mutated gene(s) which leads to higher survival rates with fewer and less severe side effects.

However, not all cancers use this "cloaking" mechanism for hiding from the immunue system, so performing a special test will let us know if immunotherapy will work. This means patients don’t get treatments they don’t need and time is not wasted on treatments that are not right for the patient.
Damian's Colon Cancer Story
Damian, 54, sought us out after his doctor recommended getting a second opinion from our cancer experts. Using a combination of advanced diagnostics, monitoring, and recently released drugs, we were able to help Damian beyond what he could have received in standard care.

Clinical Trials: How They Can Help You!
When you think of clinical trials do you imagine yourself taking some risky drug that could give you a third eye? Or are you worried that you would get a placebo and be worse off? You're not alone, there are many myths and misconceptions around clinical trials. In reality, they can give you early access to new life-saving treatments, and CTOAM can help you access them.

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