Autologous immune enhancement therapy in a case of gall bladder cancer stage IV after surgical resection and chemotherapy yielding a stable non-progressive disease.

Advanced gall bladder cancer generally has a poor prognosis and also shows decreased response to conventional therapies like chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Though surgical resection is the most common approach followed, the 1-year survival rate is only 10%. Herein, we report the outcome of administration of autologous natural killer cell and activated T lymphocyte-based autologous immune enhancement therapy (AIET) in a case of gall bladder cancer stage IV which was progressing in spite of surgical resection and several sittings of chemotherapy. There were no adverse reactions after AIET. After three infusions of AIET, an improvement of the quality of life and general condition which is sustaining for more than 6 months and a substantial decrease in the CA 19-9 marker levels from 2938.22 U/mL before AIET to 511 U/mL, 5 months after AIET, in our experience make us recommend AIET along with other conventional treatments in similar cases.

Smallpox still haunts scientists: results of a questionnaire-based inquiry on the views of health care and life science experts and students on preserving the remaining variola virus stocks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared eradication of the dreadful disease "smallpox" in 1980. Though the disease has died down, the causative virus "variola" has not, as it has been well preserved in two high security laboratories-one in USA and another in Russia. The debate on whether the remaining stocks of the smallpox virus should be destroyed or not is ongoing, and the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2011 has decided to postpone the review on this debate to the 67th WHA in 2014. A short questionnaire-based inquiry was organized during a one-day stem cell meeting to explore the views of various health care and life science specialists especially students on this aspect. Among the 200 participants of the meeting, only 66 had answered the questionnaire. 60.6% of participants who responded to the questionnaire were for preserving the virus for future reference, while 36.4% of the participants were for destroying the virus considering the magnitude with which it killed millions. However, 3% of the respondents were not able to decide on any verdict. Therefore, this inquiry expresses the view that "what we cannot create, we do not have the right to destroy."

Cell Based Autologous Immune Enhancement Therapy (AIET) after Radiotherapy in a Locally Advanced Carcinoma of the Cervix.

Radiotherapy is the primary form of treatment in patients with locally advanced cervical carcinoma. However for residual disease in the form of the persistent lymph nodes, surgery or chemotherapy is recommended. As surgery is not acceptable by every patient and chemotherapy has associated side effects, we hereby report the positive outcome of in vitro expanded natural killer cell and activated T lymphocyte based autologous immune enhancement therapy (AIET) for the residual lymphadenopathy in a patient with locally advanced cervical cancer after radiation. After six transfusions of AIET, there was complete resolution of residual lymph nodes and there was no evidence of local lesion. The patient also reported improvement in quality of life. As AIET has been reported as the least toxic among the available therapies for cancer, combining AIET with conventional forms of therapy in similar patients might not only improve the outcome but may also help the patients achieve a good quality of life.