Monday 10 October 2016

Best Medication choices for Immunotherapy

Hello.  I'm relatively new to the blog and am wondering what your opinions are on the best medications to be on while doing Temodar and Immunotherapy through IOZK.  My husband will begin treatment in November and I want to start pushing his NO here for any medications that he should start taking now.

Thank you all so much!

6 comments:

  1. I have been receiving treatment at IOZK since January and have been taking most of the extra meds and supplements cited by Stephen on this blog since diagnosis last August and continue to do so. In consultation with Prof Van Gool at the start of my treatament he asked that I stopped taking chloroquin during immunotherapy treatment. Mark Kinghorn

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  2. There is at least mouse evidence that COX-2 inhibitors (like Celebrex) would go well with some kinds of cancer vaccine. I've summarized some of this evidence here (about halfway down the page):

    http://astrocytomaoptions.com/immunotherapy/

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  3. Is there anything you can think of that we absolutely SHOULDN'T take?

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    1. We can't speak in absolutes since most of the supplements and drugs we discuss here haven't been tested even in animal models in combination with cancer vaccines, much less in humans.

      In folder 0 of the Brain Tumor Library you'll find a document called "Immunological effects of drugs/supplements" which is basically a listing of studies pertaining to the immune effects of various agents. Most of this evidence is based on preclinical work and not all of it comes from cancer models. There is also conflicting evidence for some of the agents. To play it safe you might want to avoid supplements with potential immunosuppressive effects during treatment with cancer vaccines.

      It's hard to say to avoid any of these agents categorically. Most of them have some sort of anti-tumor activity, at least in preclinical models. But the potential immunosuppressive effects become more significant when pursuing therapy with cancer vaccines or other forms of immunotherapy.

      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bKnEaAC8ZSehk5CB14FgXqBoRnS93PRU7jO41VqZv2M/edit

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  4. Hi Christine,
    My Mum has been having treatment at the IOZK since February and she takes a fair amount of supplements as well as Cimetadine, Celebrex Mebendazole and Metformin. Prof Van Gool is happy for her to continue taking these alongside their treatment. It would definitely be worth showing them your husband's cocktail to see if there is anything they do not recommend.
    All the best,
    Alison

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  5. Thank you all for your opinions! I asked one of my husband's doctors today for Celebrex and was shot down. I'll keep trying.

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