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Since the pioneering treatments employed by Dr. William B. Coley, bacteria have been proposed as a mode of late-stage cancer immunotherapy. Bacteria provide multiple advantages in cancer treatment: direct killing of cancer cells through production toxins, increased host inflammation to help host immune cells kill cancer cells, and effective removal of bacterial treatments through antibiotics … Read more

Metals are essential for the normal activity of all living beings. Besides their involvement in oxygen storage and role in many essential proteins, they are also utilized by the immune system to kill invading pathogens. While a sustained diet of metals is necessary, an overaccumulation of metals can lead to errant protein function and DNA … Read more

Copper is an essential nutrient for all living beings. However, accumulating excess copper can lead to toxicity due to its highly reactive nature. In humans, immune cells leverage this toxicity to kill pathogens, transporting excess copper to pathogens and inducing copper-based killing. Macrophages are an immune cell subset involved in the killing of extracellular pathogens. … Read more