Imagine having a spare copy of your immune system on ice, ready to replace your existing one should you fall victim to AIDS, an autoimmune disease, or have to undergo extensive chemotherapy for cancer.
An Anglo-American company called Lifeforce has received permission from the US Food and Drug Administration to do just that.
The Immune System Bank™ facilities consist of secure locations for the frozen storage of the white blood cells from whole blood. The white cells form the basis of an individual’s immune system. Sampling immune cells from a patient, enhancing them, and then returning them to the patient is called Adoptive Immunotherapy or Biological Therapy. These terms are also used to describe therapies that naturally assist your immune system to fight disease.
Lifeforce® takes a sample of your healthy blood. We then extract the white blood cells from the whole blood and freeze them after division into three separate samples. These immune system cells will be stored in liquid nitrogen vapour in three geographically remote and secure freezers.
Before the advent of Lifeforce®, the immune system cells in Biological Therapy had been collected from patients only after they had fallen ill, and were therefore of inferior quality, i.e. diseased and only partially, if at all, effective. Lifeforce® preserves a sample of an individual''s white blood cells before they fall ill, at a time when their immune system is pristine, more complete, and uncontaminated by disease. Lifeforce®, when requested, then supplies the cells back to the patient’s physician for reinfusion.
Storing a representative sample of a person''s immune system prior to them becoming ill is unique to Lifeforce®. World medical leaders in immunology consider the Lifeforce® Immune System Bank™ service will enable valuable therapies. The Lifeforce® service can save life, extend life and enhance the quality of life whilst reducing personal and healthcare industry costs.
Lifeforce® charges an initial fee of £395, followed by a monthly fee of £12.