Biomodulation: An integrated approach to access and manipulate biological information

Abstract

The concept of altering host/tumor responsiveness (surveillance) as a specific tool in the management of neoplastic disease has been the subject of both basic science and clinical studies for many years. One of the first practical applications of this approach was described by Von Leyden and Blumenthal in 1902. In this study autologous tumor cells were injected into a patient as part of an intervention protocol. In 1908 Paul Ehrlich predicted the existence of a host immuno-dependent protective mechanism. Burnet formalized this concept in 1970. The first element of Burnet’s proposal is the existence of unstable cellular clones with neoplastic potential. These clones are a normal part of mammalian existence and are important in the maintenance of surveillance mechanisms. The second element is the proposal that the host immune system is designed to hold these clones in stasis. These two inter-related elements laid the conceptual groundwork for the theory that the “induction” of the immune system could be beneficial in cases where the normal stasis mechanisms have failed and a neoplasm has expressed. Thus, from its inception these two elements were given equal weight. The first is termed by us immuno-regulatory, with the implication of recognition and regulation [both proliferative and differentiative] components. The second is termed immuno-defensive, with its implication of effector functions involved in lytic actions. In recent years these separate concepts have been apparently collapsed into the search for enhanced specificity in immune-defensive functions. Thus the modern day applications of Burnet’s concept have evolved and the field of Biological Response Modifiers [BRMs] was created.