The 3 E's of Cancer vs The Body

In the 1950s, researchers thought the immune system did two things:  it protected your body against bacteria and viruses, and it looked for abnormal cells and killed them before they could become tumors.  Called the cancer immuno-surveillance theory, it was initially rejected.  In the last 10 years, however, studies have shown that immune cells are indeed important in the prevention of cancer.  Although tumors may develop in a functioning immune system, the way a tumor grows and develops is influenced by the body's immune response.  Based on this new evidence -- and confirmed by the mouse tumor studies conducted by Dr Robert Schreiber -- the theory has been renamed "cancer immuno-editing."
The three E's of Dr Schreiber's theory of cancer immuno-editing are Elimination, Equilibrium and Escape:

1> ELIMINATION
In this phase, the immune system sees and destroys cancer cells.  This phase suggests that our bodies may be regularly introduced to cancerous changes and that our immune systems are capable of handling and eliminating them.

2> EQUALIBRIUM
If the cancer cells are not destroyed right away, they may exist in a delicate balance between growth and control by the immune system.  During equilibrium, the body's immune system is able to keep the cancer cells under control but is unable to kill them completely.  In this phase, a tumor may remain dormant for an unknown length of time and may evade medical testing.  According to the theory, however, the constant interactions between the tumor cells and the T cells of the immune system may actually lead the tumors that can adapt to the immune response.  This means the immune system may no longer be able to find tumors and attack them.  Tumors that avoid the immune response can no longer be controlled and move on to the third phase.

3> ESCAPE
The escape phase refers to the disruption of equilibrium (balance) that leads to immuno-suppression.  This allows the tumors to escape and begin growing in an environment of immune "tolerance".  It's at this point that the symptoms of cancer begin to appear.  Tumors in the escape phase use a number of methods to alter the body's immune response in such a way that actually allowed them to grow.

My husband was diagnosed at Christmas 2014, with Thyroid cancer.  He opted to only remove 1/2 his thyroid, and that seemed sufficient without any further treatments.  However, Christmas 2015, he was diagnosed with stage 4 Kidney cancer.  Although the 2 cancers are unrelated.  We're told by his Oncology team, that his Kidney likely had cancer for 8-10 years.  That perhaps his immune system in fighting the Thyroid cancer, was taxed too much, allowing the Kidney cancer to grow and spread.

With all the research of facilities and Doctors, treatment options for his stage 4 kidney cancer, we discovered that chemo never touches this type kidney cancer.  Not an option.  We also learned of Dr Agerwall at Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City, Utah who's a highly recognized kidney specialist.  The Huntsman cancer center is one of only 4 hospitals that are top cancer institutes and world class cancer centers here in the USA.  MD Anderson cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer center and Dana-Farber cancer institute of Harvard University are the other three.

We also have been educated to Immune Therapy.  His first was with Inner Luken (IL2) which is IV treatments given while in ICU, to closely monitor the body.  He received 5 of his 8 weeks (considered 4 cycles, 2 weeks each.  Usually 5 days in ICU, then 8 days out, 5 days in ICU for cycle B).  He's now going on a Targeted Therapy called "Sutant" which is a pill he'll take once a day at home with frequent labs and every 3 months full body scans.  This therapy shrinks the blood vessels feeding any remaining tumors so they die off.  Considering his original prognosis wasn't very good, he's very optimistic, with manageable side effects, and continues to work his job full time (not physically taxing).  So this is why I've taken a while off from this blog, taking care of my husband as we drive back and forth to the Huntsman cancer center for his treatments.  This is an 1,100 mile one way drive, and he's spent 5 of the past 8 months in a hospital for treatment.  He's looking very well, down on his weight, but starting to gain again.