Gamma Delta T cells are one of the most potent of all the Leukocytes, but they only make up a very small percentage of the white blood cell population. Gamma Delta cells are much more primitive than other white cells, and as a result, are not regulated by T-Reg cells. This is important because T-Reg cells potentiate immune reactions and are believed to play a role in cancer’s ability to thwart the immune system. Gamma Delta T cells are mavericks and this is why they have so much potential as cancer fighters…. when primed. GD T Cells are part of the more primitive innate immune system.
Today I start the first step of Gamma Delta T Cell therapy and will receive Zometa IV for the next two days. Zometa is a drug typically used to treat bone mets. One of its side effects however, is to stimulate Gamma Delta T cells, causing them to multiply.
Two days after Zometa has done its work, a dendritic cell vaccine is administered. The dendritic cells should activate the greatly increased Gamma Delta T cell population, and the battle will begin.
As with most immunotherapies, this treatment also has limited period of efficacy. With repeat use, over time, Zometa will become ineffective.
An alternate version of this therapy is to harvest Gamma Delta cells from a healthy donor. The cells are then cultured in the lab, primed and administered. It is not known which procedure is more effective, as it is all very much experimental, but while I am in Germany, I may as well try both.
The donors for this treatment are usually nurses working at the Duderstadt clinic. There is this healthy looking nurse, well built too, that I have my eye on. Hope its her cells that I get. 🙂 This could be an interesting pick up line. “You look pretty healthy, can I buy you a drink and have your blood?”
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