Cancer Programs
Next Generation Immunotherapy
Metastatic Cancer
Our unique cancer treatment programs utilize our Mirror Effect® platform technology to reverse engineer and imprint upon cancer patients the most powerful anti-tumor mechanism ever discovered. This powerful immune effect is known as the graft vs. tumor (GVT) effect that occurs after allogeneic stem cell transplant procedures (“Mini-Transplant”). GVT is the only mechanism known to overcome tumor immune-evasion strategies and cause the elimination of chemotherapy-resistant metastatic tumors.
Unfortunately, the GVT effect is intimately and proportionally related to a devastatingly toxic immune effect called graft vs. host disease (GVHD). Researchers have searched unsuccessfully for decades for a solution that could result in separation of the beneficial GVT effect from the toxicity of GVHD. Our break-through Mirror Effect® technology has provided the only complete solution to this problem.
Mirror Biologics has the only complete solution for harnessing the power of the GVT effect while eliminating the risk of GVHD. GVT is the most powerful anti-tumor mechanism ever discovered, capable of eliminating chemotherapy-refractory metastatic cancers. The Mirror Effect® converts GVHD into a non-toxic host vs. graft (HVG) rejection which provides a host vs tumor (HVT) effect that is equally as powerful as the GVT effect.
The GVT mechanism occurs after stem cells from a tissue-type matched healthy donor (allogeneic), usually a sibling, are transplanted into a cancer patient (host) and ‘engraft’, The engraftment creates a “chimeric” immune system, that is part host and part donor (donor=graft). In order to create a chimeric immune system, a host must first be treated with chemotherapy, not for the purpose of killing the tumor, but for the purpose of suppressing the immune system sufficient to prevent the rejection of the transplanted foreign (allogeneic) cells. Since the doses of chemotherapy required to suppress the immune system in order to create a chimeric immune system are less than the doses required to kill tumors, the procedure has been called a “Mini-Transplant”. Mini-transplant procedures have been used successfully to treat a variety of cancer types, however the clinical use has been limited due to the often lethal graft vs. host disease (GVHD) side-effect that is associated with these Mini-Transplant procedures.
Our Mirror Effect® not only harnesses the power of the GVT effect without GVHD toxicity, but also eliminates the requirement for a matched tissue donor and the need for chemotherapy.
Metastatic Cancer
Treatment Breakthrough
The Mirror Effect® breakthrough is to convert the toxic GVHD effect into a non-toxic host vs graft (HVG) rejection effect, which in turn converts the GVT effect into an equally powerful host vs. tumor (HVT) effect.
Mirror Biologics has reversed engineered the powerful GVT immune effect of non-myeloablative, allogeneic stem cell (allograft) transplant procedures (“Mini-Transplant”) that is intimately and proportionally coupled to a highly toxic and often lethal GVHD side-effect. The ‘mirror’ of GVHD is a non-toxic rejection of the graft (host vs graft or HVG) which supports a host vs tumor or HvT effect, whereby a patient’s own immune system attacks the tumor. The HVT/HVG effects elicit anti-tumor effects equally as powerful as the GVT/GVHD effects.
The GvT/GvHD effects only occur when a patient is pre-treated with chemotherapy, not to kill the tumor, but to suppress the immune system sufficient to prevent rejection and enable the engraftment of the stem cells from a matched tissue donor. Only when there is engraftment of foreign immune cells (chimeric immune system) does the rejection of the cells cause an anti-tumor effect. Infusion of allogeneic immune cells without prior chemotherapy conditioning does not elicit an anti-tumor effect. The GvHD attack on normal cells, especially endothelial cells of the lining of the gut, causes the release of danger signals. These danger signals are responsible for supporting the GVT effect and breaking down the ability of the tumor to evade or suppress immune attack.
In order to eliminate the need for chemotherapy conditioning and matched tissue donors in the HvG/HvT mirror mechanism, AlloStim® cells are designed to release the same danger signals upon rejection as are released in GvHD.