About Us
Helping patients personalize cancer treatments, increase positive outcomes and extend time in remission
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Weizmann 14, Tel Aviv, Israel
Helping patients personalize cancer treatments, increase positive outcomes and extend time in remission
Biotherapy International, also known as The Center for Innovative Cancer Immunotherapy & Cellular Therapy, has recently established a state-of-the-art tumor bank. This is the latest chapter of our ongoing mission to enable cancer patients to access customized anti-cancer vaccines and provide them with a renewed chance at recovery and remission.
Established in 2020, our private tumor bank uses our proprietary technology to store tumor samples provided by patients from all around the world for the induction of anti-cancer immunotherapy.
At our facility, we can cryopreserve tumor tissue at -80°C or -1960C degrees, in case it becomes necessary for the preparation of anti-cancer vaccines. Each sample is carefully labelled and readily available for long term storage, awaiting the possible indication of an anti-cancer vaccine.
Our specialists’ main goal is to be able to provide patients in need with personalized anti-cancer immunotherapy, taking into consideration that the efficacy of anti-cancer vaccination may also improve in the future.
We established our tumor bank in 2020 after noticing that many patients were not offered the opportunity to cryopreserve a tumor during
the initial diagnosis.
Biotherapy International is constantly researching new techniques that can offer further treatment for patients with recurrent tumors.
One of the less invasive options for these patients is the preparation of anti-cancer vaccines. However, preparing these vaccines requires readily
available “fresh” tumor tissue, which most hospitals do not offer.
Under normal circumstances, tumor tissue begins to degrade rapidly after being extracted.
Because of this, most hospitals discard the tissue soon after the initial biopsy or removal surgery. However, the tumor contains important genetic information that can be used to treat resilient cancers.
For most patients, the next step after removing a cancerous tumor is usually chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a combination of both. Most types of cancer
will respond to this adequately. However, if a tumor reappears after the initial standard treatment, long-term survival chances diminish rapidly.
At this stage, novel immunotherapy-based treatments offer the best chance to eliminate cancer down to the last cell. The easiest way to create an immune response against the tumor is through the use of anti-cancer vaccines. These are all custom-made using the tumor’s unique DNA.
If you are about to have an exploratory biopsy or a tumor removal surgery, and would like to preserve your tumor, contact us. Our team will guide you
and your surgeon on the proper procedure to extract a sample of the tumor, so it can be cryopreserved and stored in our tumor bank.
Cryopreserving a tumor sample at ultra-cold temperature ensures it stays as close as “fresh” as possible. This keeps all the information stored in the tumor’s DNA intact.
If standard anti-cancer treatments (such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy) fail, the cryopreserved tumor sample can help us prepare a customized anti-cancer vaccine. This will teach your immune system to recognize the DNA in your tumor as “non-self” and aggressively fight it as it would fight an infection.
If the tumour is not in an easily accessible location, or if it was already removed, it is also possible to use blood-derived cancer components. Blood samples often contain circulating tumour cells, excretory extracellular vesicles or exosomes. These can all be used as a source of cancer antigens, and then be used to manufacture an anti-cancer vaccine.
Ideally, blood samples will need to be harvested and cryopreserved before initiating any conventional oncological treatment (like chemotherapy). This will increase the chances of finding cancer antigens amidst the blood tissue.
It is impossible to know from the start whether cancer will become recurrent or if it will metastasize. Most cancers respond well to conventional treatments. When they don’t, additional rounds of chemotherapy or radiotherapy are mainly ineffective in eliminating cancer to the last cell.
When a patient is first diagnosed with cancer, we all expect advanced treatments like immunotherapy won’t be necessary. If they do, having a tumor sample stored in a tumor bank can make a massive difference in the range of treatments available.
Contact us using the form below. One of our team members will contact you and schedule a video call with you and your attending physician. During this call, we will explain the necessary procedure to reserve a tumor sample during a biopsy, store it, and send it to our tumor bank.
It is important to begin the process before the initial biopsy or cancer-removal surgery. The surgeon needs to be notified ahead of time in order to preserve as much of the original tumor tissue as he can.
The tumor sample can be stored in 2-ml or 5-ml sterile tubes, made from a material that can withstand cryopreservation. If this is not available, the surgeon can also use a 50-ml tube with a small amount of saline solution.
Then, the tumor needs to be transported to Tel Aviv via our courier. During the journey, it should be kept on cold ice at ultra cold temperatures (either a deep-freeze refrigerator at -80°C, or a liquid nitrogen refrigerator at -196°C).
