“All cancer is a disease of the immune system.” - Dr. Edwin McClelland, MD, Immunologist

Immune system cancer protection as explained by the National Cancer Institute:

“The immune system provides one of the body’s main defenses against cancer. When normal cells turn into cancer cells, some of the antigens on their surface change. These new or altered antigens flag immune defenders, including cytotoxic T cells, natural killer cells, and macrophages. According to one theory, patrolling cells of the immune system provide continuing bodywide surveillance, spying out and eliminating cells that undergo malignant transformation. Tumors develop when the surveillance system breaks down or is overwhelmed.”

And in the medical school textbook Basic Immunology by Abbas and Lichtman:

“Since the 1950′s it has been thought that a physiologic function of the adaptive immune system is to prevent the outgrowth of transformed cells or to destroy these cells before they become harmful tumors. This phenomenon is called immune surveillance.”

Will a strong immune system help prevent cancer?
By Jeannette Santino, PhD Holistic Nutrition.

Jeannette Santino, PhD, Certified Nutritional Therapist

There is much that is understood about the immune system and much that is not yet known. We know that the principal immune mechanism of tumor eradication is killing of tumor cells by CTL’s (cytotoxic T cells) specific of tumor antigens. Science is still investigating if an enhanced, stronger immune system will do this better, or facilitate the other immune mechanisms believed to be of lesser importance in tumor prevention or eradication. Cancer cells develop in our bodies all the time, but our immune systems effectively kill the cancer cells before they further develop and symptomatically appear as the disease we know as “cancer.” The development of cancer indicates that the immune system was ineffective in fighting the malignant cells that appeared; these cells took advantage of a weakened state, grew, and spread out of control.

There is much clinical and empirical evidence that colostrum strengthens and regulates the immune system, but it is not known if that facilitates immune surveillance and the destruction of malignant cells before they become harmful tumors. It may be possible that colostrum induced enhancement of the immune system enhances immune surveillance activity, however that may be difficult to prove or to disprove, especially since immune surveillance is itself still a theory, although widely accepted, at this time. Regardless of immune surveillance, it is of course beneficial to promote strength and balance in our immune systems.

One of the first scientists to try to trigger the immune system to attack cancer was the New York surgeon William Coley (1862-1936). He was inspired by a patient with sarcoma who recovered after suffering an acute bacterial infection. His experimental therapies worked and he became known as the “Father of Immunotherapy”. (Iowa Orthopedic Journal 2006; 26: 154-158; The Toxins of William B. Coley and the Treatment of Vone and Soft-Tissue Sarcomas Edward F. McCarthy, M.D. Department of Pathology, Division of Surgical Pathology; Department of Pathology and Orthopaedic Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD) http://www.cancerresearch.org/history.html ;Current Scientists are finding evidence that the immune system kicks in to play a critical role in combating cancer. Jedd D. Wolchok, an oncologist at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, thinks there is a connection. A spontaneous remission, he says, is “either divine intervention or the immune system.” http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0302/074_cancer_miracles.html

“To the body, a tumor looks like the biggest bacteria it has ever seen,” says Robert Schreiber, an immunologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He has found that mice lacking key components of their immune system are far more likely to develop cancers. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0302/074_cancer_miracles.html (Same link as above, further down page.)

Dr. Edwin McClelland, MD, Immunologist, San Diego, CA, and a researcher of immunological cancer therapies, says that “All cancer is a disease of the immune system.” (Personal interview 2009)

Enhance Your Natural Immunity

There is a massive amount of research on the benefits of colostrum. Other nutrients known to support the immune system include zinc, Vitamin’s C and D, and phytonutrients.  
However, supplements that strengthen the immune system will have limited effect if we practice an unhealthy lifestyle, such as smoking, excessive alcohol use, drugs and the Standard American Diet (SAD). To get the maximum benefit of colostrum and other natural immune builders, we should, stay away from known toxic foods such as white sugar, white flour, artificial additives, anything not real that is in processed foods, limit alcohol intake or totally refrain, abstain from ingesting foods you are sensitive to, eat 80% raw (I personally love green smoothies), consume organic foods, and drink plenty of pure filtered water. Part of a healthy lifestyle would be to exercise regularly, get adequate sleep, practice stress reduction techniques that work for you, engage in altruistic activities that help others, and maintain a positive attitude toward life. None of us lives a perfect lifestyle, but a small step now and then in the right direction can work wonders over time!
Yours for health,
Jeannette

Visit the Synertek Website at www.synertekcolostrum.com to see research or order colostrum online.