Reply to is there any HARM in doing immune protocol recommended by RI? can it decrease chances?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's somewhat unclear if fiddling with your immune system (i.e. through steroids, intralipids or IVIG) could increase the risk for cancer.  But there's probably not much risk with short-term use.[/quote]

IVIGs have been tested and approved by FDS and are actually used for other conditions. So are the steroids. Why is it all of a sudden "unclear" for infertility patients?[/quote]

I can't speak to other conditions for which IVIG, etc. are indicated but when I started treatment through the Beer Center several years ago, I had to sign a release that I understood that cancer could be one risk of treatment.  See below:

[b][i]VI. What is Intralipid?

Intralipids are a fat emulsion solution used as a nutritional supplement in patients with nutritional deficiencies. It is a synthetic product that has 10% soybean oil, egg yolk phospholipids, glycerin and water. It also contains a small amount of aluminum (25mcg/L).  It is administered intravenously (injected in the vein).

Some recent studies have shown it may decrease the killing activity (cytotoxicity) of natural killer cells (NK cells). [u]NK cells are part of the immune system that helps control infection and cancer growth.[/u] In infertility patients this may improve implantation and successful pregnancy outcome rates. The conventional treatment for increased cytotoxicity is an infusion of intravenous gamma globulin (IVIG).  [/i][/b]

[url]http://www.immunologysupport.com/treatments.html[/url]

[/quote]

Yes, intralipids are sketchier, but cheaper. Note the last sentence where it clearly says that IVIG is the conventional method (typical, more accepted). [/quote]

Yes, IVIG is the more established treatment but both IVIG and Intralipids have the same effect, which is to decrease the cytotoxicity of NK cells.  What you're essentially doing is temporarily scaling back your body's natural defense against cancer.  For most people--in the short term--this is unlikely to be a problem but what if you happen to have a tiny undiagnosed tumor somewhere in your body right now?  Could you be enabling something to grow and prosper that your immune system might otherwise take care of?

I'm as much a believer in the power of reproductive immunology  as anyone else.  I have two healthy and beautiful children as a result of my own treatment, but I think we need to be realistic about the potential risks.  The Beer Center wouldn't be asking patients to sign a release that mentions cancer if it wasn't at least a small risk.
[/quote]

I'm not sure I'd say IL and IVIG have the same effect.  They definitely had very different impacts on my numbers with IVIG being more effective for both NKs and TNF.  This is why prednisone is typically added with IL.  The issues that some of us have with our immune system is about balance and sometimes that involves suppressing TNF-a or NKs to allow another cell subset to come to the forefront the way they are supposed to during early pregnancy.  Some treatments suppress and others enhance.  IVIG enhances the immune system of former cancer patients vs suppressing it.  Neupogen also enhances the immune system by increasing WBC counts and lymphocytes.  So there is some push and pull here and other cell subsets that can cause apoptosis of cancer cells vs just TNF and NKs.  The immune system is so very complex I think this is a bit of a loaded discussion here and probably impossible to prove one way or the other with the information at hand.[/quote]

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