Store immune systems in case disease attacks

William Atkins
Wednesday, 27 June 2007 23:45

Science - Health

Lifeforce, an authorized MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) blood establishment, operates Immune System Bank™ facilities. The facilities store frozen white blood cells that have been taken from whole blood of customers.

White blood cells maintain a person’s immune system. Thus, if a person acquires a disease, Lifeforce can return the stored immune cells to the customer, through a process called adoptive immunotherapy (sometimes called biological therapy), in order to help the customer’s immune system fight the disease.

Lifeforce has recently gained permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to collect samples from U.S. citizens. It has also been granted permission by the U.K. government to expand its operations.

Basically, Lifeforce personnel collect 480-milliliter (about 0.5-quart) samples of blood from healthy customers. They then take out the white blood cells—in fact, divide the cells into three portions. The three frozen portions are stored at -196 degrees Celsius (-321 degrees Fahrenheit) in a liquid nitrogen vapor in three geographically remote and secured locations.

A sample costs approximately 800 U.S. dollars (about 400 British pounds) and storage costs are 25 U.S. dollars (about 12.5 British pounds) per month.

Lifeforce co-founder Del DelaRonde, whose company is based in Newport, UK, states that its system will help to strengthen an aging immune system and rebuild an immune system that has been damaged by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, accidentally exposed to radioactivity, and other complications that degrade or destroy the immune system of humans.

According to the article “Create a back-up copy of your immune system” in the June 23-29 issue of New Scientist magazine, DelaRonde says, “That sample would have the complete repertoire of all your white blood cells.”