Twice, Jim Mann survived aggressive melanoma, which quickly kills most people.
Surgery in 2016 to remove a large spot on his head—along with lymph nodes, some under his skull—was sufficient to put Mann into remission, surprising doctors who had expected to find the cancer had spread throughout his body.
Eighteen months later, follow-up testing on a mass that he found revealed eight tumors throughout his body.
However, two months into his two-year immunotherapy treatment protocol, the tumors disappeared. His immune system, which he described as good before his diagnosis, responded robustly to treatment. By then, he had also quit eating sugar, minimized stress, and joined a support group.
“I shouldn’t have lived more than a month or two, based on how big the melanoma was, but I’m glad they didn’t tell me that at the beginning,” Mann told The Epoch Times. “The fact that they were shocked every time they saw me was unnerving, but great at the same time.”
Under ideal conditions, the immune system is a cancer-fighting machine. Immunotherapy—and its success on previously hopeless advanced cancer patients such as Mann—elucidates how tweaking immune system mechanisms can get results that defy previous survival odds in some cancers. It’s a significant step forward in cancer treatment, and also illustrates that supporting the immune system during treatment appears to increase success—an initiative that some patients embrace with lifestyle changes.
Immunotherapy requires a strong, well-functioning immune system, Dr. William Li, physician, scientist, and bestselling author of “Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself,” told The Epoch Times in an email interview.
“This is connected to a healthy diet, because your gut microbiome—the healthy bacteria that live in your gut—helps to nurture your immune system so it can effectively fight invaders like cancer cells. What we eat feeds our gut bacteria, which in turn, influences the ability of the immune system to respond properly to immunotherapy.”
Immunotherapy 101
Unlike healthy human cells, cancer cells often have defective repair mechanisms. They replicate out of control, rapidly multiplying but not dying like normal cells do when they are stressed or diseased.
Cancer grows alongside an immune system that either lacks a strong enough response or fails to recognize the cancer as foreign. Cancer cells can actively evade the immune system, for instance, releasing substances that hide them like an invisibility cloak.
Immunotherapy drugs leverage the patient’s own immune system by either stimulating it to work harder or restoring or improving it.
It’s less invasive than ridding cancer through surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy—all of which weaken the immune system.
There are several types of immunotherapy, including:
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors: Disengage the immune system’s “brakes” so it will recognize and attack cancer.
- Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy: Changes T cells so they are better able to fight cancer cells.
- Monoclonal antibodies: Lab-made proteins serve as homing beacons on cancer cells.
- Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes: White blood cells taken from the body, multiplied, and returned to the body to boost the immune response.
- Cancer vaccines: Made with tumor antigens and modified cancer cells or cell fragments, vaccines train the immune system to recognize and fight cancer.
Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation come with potentially awful side effects, but because healthy cells are better shielded with immunotherapy, the side effects are typically not as serious, according to radiation oncologist Dr. Chad Levitt, founder of ONCARE MD, a service that helps patients navigate their cancer care.
Nevertheless, immunotherapy can sometimes lead to adverse events caused by a misfiring immune system, ranging from mild to serious—or even life-threatening—primarily affecting the skin and gastrointestinal tract.
Immunotherapy is also expensive—some treatments cost hundreds of thousands of dollars—and it’s not always feasible. For instance, some cancers lack U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for immunotherapy—and there are stipulations for uses that make some patients ineligible, particularly for cancers that aren’t advanced.
For instance, immunotherapy wouldn’t be considered for breast cancers with high cure rates that are treated using chemotherapy, Levitt told The Epoch Times.
A Healthy Immune System Is Key
Kay Blackburn worked in the health and wellness industry and considered herself healthy before her diagnosis of stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2016. However, after her diagnosis, she didn’t completely eliminate sugar or tackle emotional issues such as forgiveness—at least not initially, she told The Epoch Times. She said she focused only on what conventional treatments would offer, while her cancer became more aggressive.
Chemotherapy wasn’t working, and Blackburn’s cancer grew during treatment. Unable to undergo a stem cell transplant, she was 13th on a clinical trial waiting list for immunotherapy that took only two patients a month.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t even know if I’m going to make it, to actually be alive if my number comes up,’” Blackburn said.
By the time she was treated, her perspective on lifestyle choices had shifted, and she’d adopted a strict vegan diet and eliminated chemicals from her household and hygiene products. However, scans revealed that she didn’t have a positive response to CAR T-cell therapy.
“Everything looked exactly the same,” she said. “After that scan, I was like, ‘Well, what now?’ because that was the end of the line. I went home depressed and cried for three days.”
Since she was still in the trial, Blackburn’s tumors were checked with scans at regular intervals. Her cancer didn’t shrink, but it wasn’t growing either. Eventually, her doctor declared that she was in remission.
“My doctor even said, ‘You know, I don’t have anybody like you’—the fact that I went through the clinical trial, didn’t get a response, came off treatment, and yet [the cancer] is remaining stable,” she said.
Support From Within
Patients can nurture their own immune systems—like Blackburn did—through food, movement, and stress management.
Levitt’s approach is to ensure that patients immediately address nutrition, exercise, energy, mind-body strategies, and spirituality for an integrative, holistic treatment approach—although he said most doctors may not offer advice on solutions beyond medication.
Here’s what research shows:
What to Eat
Ultra-processed foods are associated with inflammation and dysbiosis, or an imbalance in gut microbiota. However, it’s not uncommon for patients to be told to keep calories up and weight on, even if it means that they’re eating ice cream and other junk food.
“I was offered nothing definitive as far as what to eat, what to avoid,” said Blackburn, who went on to become an integrative nutrition health coach.
A healthy diet nurtures one’s immune system and feeds gut bacteria, which in turn, empowers one’s body to respond properly to immunotherapy, according to Li.
Diet should include foods with probiotics, such as yogurt, kimchi, or sauerkraut, and foods high in dietary fiber—such as those found in the produce section at the market, he said.
Foods with anti-inflammatory properties—fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, healthy fats, and certain spices—are capable of lowering the risk of cancer development and reducing systemic inflammation, according to a review in the journal Cell Death and Disease. Inflammation is linked to treatment resistance in advanced-stage cancer. The review noted that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids and high-fiber foods improved immunotherapy outcomes.
“Notably, research has shown that the response to cancer immunotherapy or its treatment-related toxicity can be improved or exacerbated by modulating the gut microbiome,” the review stated.
Spotlight on the Gut Microbiome
Specific gut microbiota families show positive effects on immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to a study published in Cancer Research that analyzed the microbiome’s role in immunotherapy resistance.
Other microbiota families had an adverse effect on drugs, while some had synergistic effects depending on interactions with other microbiota families.
Findings suggest microbiota families that produce anti-inflammatory short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate were linked to fewer side effects and, in some instances, better immunotherapy drug outcomes. The gut microbe Akkermansia muciniphila was noted for boosting immunotherapy effectiveness and modulating immune responses.
CAR T-cell therapy can make gut dysbiosis—imbalanced gut microbiota—worse. However, B-cell lymphoma patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy who had high levels of Akkermansia muciniphila maintained health-promoting microbiota diversity, according to another study published in Cancer Discovery.
Akkermansia muciniphila is available as a probiotic, which Li said he recommends for immunotherapy cancer patients, along with Lactobacillus reuteri.
Exercise Improves Immune Response
Exercise improves immunotherapy effectiveness, according to the results of a review published in Frontiers in Immunology.
Specifically, exercise increases the functional properties of certain types of white blood cells and allows them to more easily infiltrate cancer cells. Exercise can improve anti-cancer treatments such as immunotherapy and radiation, the authors noted.
At the same time, exercise can also decrease immunosuppressive regulatory T cells, which restrict effective immune responses against tumors, and increase special white blood cells that act as cancer patrol and control.
“Basic research has highlighted that exercise can impact cancer cells by hindering their proliferation, promoting apoptosis [cell death], and reducing their migration capabilities,” the authors stated. “This highlights the potential of exercise as a strategic complement in cancer treatment protocols to leverage the body’s own immune system against cancer.”
Exercise that builds or maintains muscle mass increases treatment tolerance and recovery, Levitt said. Cancer patients often find walking—even when their brain and body resist it—gives them more energy than sitting on the couch.
“Let’s say you get rid of all the cancer, that should be a launching pad for the rest of your life to exercise,” he said. “You always want to encounter a challenge from a position of strength. … You never know what’s around the corner, and you’d rather be in fighting shape.”
Soul Care and Support
While spirituality hasn’t been directly linked to immunotherapy, religion has been positively associated with overall health and lower inflammation. Some evidence also shows that those who attend religious services have healthier immune systems.
Blackburn used journaling and Healing Strong, a cancer support group with online Bible studies and prayer calls, to work through negative emotions during her treatment.
“Leaning into my faith during that period was what gave me hope,” she said.
Both Mann and Blackburn said continued spiritual care, support, and commitment to exercise and eating healthier are now lifelong pursuits.
Mann, who hosted a radio show and woke at 2 a.m. to start his day for 30 years, has learned to slow down, among other strategies.
“One thing cancer did teach me is ‘why am I always in a hurry?’ It’s ridiculous,” he said. “I realized Jesus never hurried, and he accomplished quite a bit, I understand.”
Spiritual interventions can decrease fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression, and psychological distress, according to a meta-analysis published in the European Journal of Oncology Nursing.
High levels of cortisol—the main stress hormone—contribute to the development of cancer and inhibit recovery, Levitt said.
“It’s anecdotal, but throughout my practice, I can’t tell you how many people come to me with their new diagnosis, and something in the last 12 to 24 months was a huge trauma in their life—they lost a loved one, lost a child, they were helping a family member or friend go through cancer … then, boom, they got cancer,” he said.
Managing stress is key, according to Levitt.
Keep Searching for Solutions
Finding a doctor or even a hospital that emphasizes and supports a holistic treatment strategy remains challenging, Levitt said. Patients who are looking for resources, however, can find them—often beyond hospital walls.
Blackburn, who currently serves as the chairperson for Healing Strong’s board of directors, said she continues to hear successes from those complementing their cancer treatment with nutrition and holistic therapies.
She’s determined to help others not to feel disadvantaged when they exhaust all medical treatment options by helping them use lifestyle tools right away—unlike what she did.
“I was looking for a doctor to tell me, ‘This is what you need to do,’” Blackburn said. “I really wished my oncologist was more interested to know what I was doing. I was waiting for him to say, ‘What are you doing?’ but he didn’t ask. I feel like that’s where the missing piece is.”
