Our Services
Tumor Preservation
(Step 1)
Preserve your cancer cells/tissue (in multiple formats) for advanced testing and study (immediate or at later time).
Advanced Testing
Personalized Chemo/Drug Therapy
Test and prioritize which chemo/drug combination your tumor will most likely respond to before taking it.
Targeted Therapy (Genomic Testing)
Identify drugs/experimental drugs that target biomarkers on your tumor.
Immune-Therapy
Personalized Vaccines
Activate and awaken your immune system to fight your cancer from within and in parallel.
Adoptive T-Cell Therapy
Boost and strengthen the natural ability of your T-Cells (killer cells) to attack and fight your cancer.
Who can benefit from our services?
Every patient can benefit from our services. Increasing the likeliness of the treatment working, and/or designing personalized immunotherapy has shown to extend time in remission and life overall. Our services are especially appareling to patients that:
- want to find out which drug or cocktail is best for their cancer
- have not responded to their treatment
- have an aggressive disease or disease of unknown origin
- are experiencing too many side effects from their current treatment
- with advanced stage cancer or metastasis
- are interested in exploring cellular immunotherapy
- are being told that there are no other treatment options available to them
- have (or think that have) developed resistance to their current treatment
- want to take more control of their treatment
- want to keep all future treatment options open
Special Note: preserved tumor is always required to personalize the treatment. Not every patient needs all our services. Patient advisors help patients understand these options and what may be relevant to their current treatment plan and the oncologist’s strategy.
COMMON CONCERNS & MISCONCEPTIONS
Cancer changes and mutates over time and in response to treatments, so will a preserved tumor be useful in the future?
As tumors change, they add mutations and therefore continue to express the older unique mutations (targets). For example, cancer vaccines made out of the patient’s previously stored tumor mount an immune response against the mutated and non-mutated antigens – as well as the known and the unknown antigens. Vaccinating patients with the previously preserved tumor will still target the shared mutations on unique cancer cells and stimulate the immune system to induce an immune response against them. Also, inducing an immune response against the old mutations (and not the ones present in the current tumor) has been shown to cause what is called ‘epitope spreading’ and induces an immune response against the new antigens. In short, vaccinating with the patient’s previously preserved tumor can induce an immune response against the entire repertoire of antigens.
For more information, see our detailed response in our frequently asked questions.
Cancer changes and mutates over time and in response to treatments, so will a preserved tumor be useful in the future?
Even the smallest biopsy is sufficient to personalize the treatment. We can work with a biopsy or larger volume. More tissue typically means more options to your patient. All tissue is valuable (even a biopsy is useful). We recommend storing as much tumor tissue and ascites as possible (fluid is just as good as solid tissue). Call us so we will guide you through the decisions and help you prioritize based on the amount of tissue available.
Pathology internally preserves the tumor routinely for all patients, doesn’t it?
Hospitals generally keep only a very small piece of the tumor for their own purposes, and usually it’s preserved in paraffin (which is not alive). In contrast, StoreMyTumor preserves as much tumor as possible in a viable format, maximizing the opportunities to use your tissue for the patient’s own benefit.
Many patients ask the hospital if they will store their tumor, and the answer is typically a misleadingly yes. This is because hospitals preserve a small part in paraffin (not alive). Additionally, some large cancer centers preserve tumors flash frozen (not alive). StoreMyTumor cryo-preserves the cells alive. This preservation method keeps the cells alive, and is more difficult due to the short timeframes and lengthy delicate and sterile processing requirements.
Tumor Preservation
(Step 1)
Preserve your cancer cells/tissue (in multiple formats) for advanced testing and study (immediate or at later time).
Advanced Testing
Personalized Chemo/Drug Therapy
Test and prioritize which chemo/drug combination your tumor will most likely respond to before taking it.
Targeted Therapy (Genomic Testing)
Identify drugs/experimental drugs that target biomarkers on your tumor.
Immune-Therapy
Personalized Vaccines
Activate and awaken your immune system to fight your cancer from within and in parallel.
Adoptive T-Cell Therapy
Boost and strengthen the natural ability of your T-Cells (killer cells) to attack and fight your cancer.
