Immunoaugmentative Therapy
Developed in the 1970s by a biologist named Lawrence Burton, immunoaugmentative therapy (IAT) is an alternate treatment for cancer that has not been endorsed or approved by the medical community or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Essentially, this therapy consists of consists of daily injections of a protein mixture made from human blood in an attempt to allow the immune system to attack the cancer. Components of the blood products are claimed to contain anti-tumor antibodies and "deblocking proteins" from healthy donors. (American Cancer Society)
IAT should not be confused with traditional immunotherapy, which has been known to successfully treat certain types of cancer. Traditional immunotherapy employs the use of cytokines, antibodies, vaccines and other methods to boost the immune system's attack on cancer cells.
Proponents of this cancer therapy do not promote it as a cure but as a long-term treatment, not unlike that for diabetes, for which patients receive daily injections of insulin. Practitioners of the therapy believe that with this treatment, the cancer will stabilize or go into remission, but no scientific evidence has been available to prove these claims.
Patients must visit an IAT clinic to begin the process of immunoaugmentative therapy and must remain near the clinic for two to three months. The treatments begin with a blood and urine test to determine the patient's immune system status. Once those numbers have been calculated, daily injections begin. The patient must continue to test his/her blood once or twice per day during the course of the treatment to determine the body's reaction to the IAT and to help gauge the dosage for the next day's injection.
Though advocates of IAT promote it as safe, non-toxic, and effective, there have been no published reports of the success or non-success of clinical trials that employed the procedure. Dr. Burton, however, did publish a case study in 1988 involving 11 patients with mesothelioma. He reported that the average survival time for the meso patients on IAT was about 30 months, which is better than most statistics in regards to treatment success for this aggressive disease. However, no formal studies have been done to confirm these results.
Any patients who decide to try IAT should inform their doctor, as the treatment could interfere with conventional cancer therapies and cause serious problems. There are no IAT clinics in the United States at this time, but there is a clinic located in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, just a short flight from Miami.
Last modified: December 17 2007.
